A study of Ugandan children’s perspectives on peace, conflict, and peace-building: A liberation psychology approach

Bulhan (2015) urged psychologists to advance their research and practice by attending to metacolonialism, a structural phenomenon built on a history of violence and oppression that assaults all manner of individual, community, and societal well-being. In line with this urging, a primarily Ugandan team of researchers conducted a study of primary schoolchildren’s perspectives on conflict, peace, and peace-building. In the original study, which is briefly reviewed in this manuscript, the children were drawn from 2 Ugandan schools, one located in the northern region and the other in the central region. At each stage of the research process, the team members sought to recognize and resist the reproduction of metacolonialism while move toward more emancipatory practices. In this theoretical article, we explain how we applied a liberation psychological approach to the design, conduct, and analysis of the study. We also show how the findings of the study contribute to our ongoing work in fostering structural changes in one of the schools, its surrounding region, and the nation as a whole

HIV and AIDS Awareness among Children with Mental Retardation in Masvingo Urban: A Teacher’s Viewpoint

The study sought to establish the level of HIV and AIDS awareness among children with mental retardation in Masvingo urban of southern Zimbabwe. Openness to the subject of sexuality and HIV and AIDS is considered as taboo in many African cultures. To persons with disabilities, let alone individuals with mental retardation, sexuality and HIV are still areas of grave concern, which still require further study and investigation, hence the interest in the present study. A questionnaire was administered on twenty teachers of children with mental retardation in two institutions. Data was presented in tables and results analysed. The study revealed that teachers agreed that children with mental retardation were sensitized to problems relating to HIV and AIDS. The responses from teachers indicated that the HIV and AIDS sensitisation programme in the schools was an effective awareness tool. There is need for more school based awareness campaigns to sensitize the children with mental retardation on the effects of HIV and AIDS transmission and infection. The need for communal participation in the awareness programmes is also highlighted