Paper short abstract:

Unaccompanied children and youth at the Zimbabwean - South African borderland establish their own 'niche spaces' on South African soil and relocate their conceptual national border.

Paper long abstract:

Unaccompanied children and youth have been settling down at the Zimbabwean - South African borderland in their search for sustainable lives, as poverty, unemployment and a costly education system continue to prevent them from working towards a better future in their country. Staying at the borderland at first seems surprising. With limited business centers, unemployment, and scarce housing solutions, this border area can hardly be viewed as a center of attraction. Nevertheless, young people find rare advantages in living at the borderland and the opportunities it produces.

Children and youth face numerous challenges at the South African borderland, as some of them engage in risky lines of work with exploitative terms of employment. They are exposed to criminal activity and violence. At times they face acute poverty and they struggle to get proper medical attention. However, by staying at the borderland for a long time, they establish their own 'niche spaces' (Van Blerk, 2006), which makes their experience less migratory and more familiar. I will argue that by creating small Zimbabwean islands on South African soil, children and youth push their conceptual national border further south, relocating it after the South African border town. By creating and using continuities from Zimbabwe, I will suggest that children and youth's niche spaces become relatively Zimbabwean, which allows young people to live in South Africa with a sense of belonging on the one hand, and develop a fear of what is beyond these niche spaces on the other.