ABSTRACT
Introduction It is midday and hot outside. We (Ruth, Madeleine and Xakathile, our Xhosa-speaking translator/research assistant) enter a cool, thatch-roofed mud hut in a remote rural African village. There’s not space for everyone on the one available bench so we sit on the dried dung fl oor. A few chickens peck in the ashes around the fi re in the middle of the hut, on which a pot of food is gently simmering. Our eyes adjust to the smoke and the darkness inside the dwelling as we watch household members enter, greet us and settle down. Everyone in this household is interested, and implicated, in what is about to transpire. We listen as Xakathile explains in isiXhosa (an indigenous African language) our presence and purpose. When this has been done, and if identifi ed (sampled) household members agree to talk to us, we discuss their rights as research participants. This is never easy to do because people are generally hospitable, polite and accepting, but we can’t help wondering what they really think, feel and understand about what is being requested.
