Freedom of movement
All of the participants mentioned the need to autonomously explore their environment and to feel free from movement constraints as a precondition to enjoying their lives despite their adverse settings. The importance of the freedom - or alternatively the prohibition - to physically explore their surroundings emerged as an important factor from both the children’s maps and walking tours. Some drawings included different streets and paths, showing the ability of children to move around and their awareness of the appropriate roads to reach their favorite places. In contrast, other maps offered a more schematic collection of places the children liked, without any precise or accurate geographical connection between them.
- - Insert Figure 2 - -
The imposed restrictions effectively limited children’s opportunity to explore their environment and denied them access to many resources, which reduces children’s ability to engage and develop their own independent survival strategies.