This paper challenges the view that, in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the African extended family is no longer able to care for and support orphaned children. The paper is based on a qualitative case study conducted in a South African urban area on the lived experiences of orphaned children aged 9–14. Data were collected from the children, their teachers as well as their main caregivers. The study found that, despite the poverty facing the extended family, emotional support, family cohesion and support for learning can serve to meet the educational needs of orphaned children.

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Children across Africa, not unlike elsewhere in the world, suffer myriad hardships, some of which include sexual and physical violence, economic exploitation and ritual killings. Using a literature review, this article maps the foci of research on the status and value attributed to children in various African contexts. The article also juxtaposes this value by considering how children have been maltreated historically and contemporaneously, discussing how notions of personhood contribute to the devaluation and possible revaluation of children. Here, the authors contrast two dominant positions in the treatment of personhood in Africa as communitarian – personhood-as-acquired and personhood-as-endowed. Noting the appeal and limits of these positions, the authors articulate a synthesis of both that could contribute towards a revaluation of children in African contexts. They argue that while ‘personhood-as-endowed’ safeguards against a hierarchy of persons that might be vulnerable to abuse and arbitrary excesses sanctioned by one’s community, ‘personhood-as-acquired’ holds adults to a high moral standard which has a protective effect for children while maintaining the role of community in cultivating moral development.