[Vision2020] 'Child-witches' of Nigeria

[Chasuk]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/nigeria/3407882/Child-witches-of-Nigeria-seek-refuge.html

'Child-witches' of Nigeria seek refuge

Mary is a pretty five-year-old girl with big brown eyes and a father
who kicked her out onto the streets in one of the most dangerous parts
of the world. Her crime: the local priest had denounced her as a witch
and blamed her "evil powers" for causing her mother's death.

Ostracised, vulnerable and frightened, she wandered the streets in
south-eastern Nigeria, sleeping rough, struggling to stay alive.

Mary was found by a British charity worker and today lives at a refuge
in Akwa Ibom province with 150 other children who have been branded
witches, blamed for all their family's woes, and abandoned. Before
being pushed out of their homes many were beaten or slashed with
knives, thrown onto fires, or had acid poured over them as a
punishment or in an attempt to make them "confess" to being possessed.
In one horrific case, a young girl called Uma had a three-inch nail
driven into her skull.

Yet Mary and the others at the shelter are the lucky ones for they, at
least, are alive. Many of those branded "child-witches" are murdered -
hacked to death with machetes, poisoned, drowned, or buried alive in
an attempt to drive Satan out of their soul.

The devil's children are "identified" by powerful religious leaders at
extremist churches where Christianity and traditional beliefs have
combined to produce a deep-rooted belief in, and fear of, witchcraft.
The priests spread the message that child-witches bring destruction,
disease and death to their families. And they say that, once
possessed, children can cast spells and contaminate others.

The religious leaders offer help to the families whose children are
named as witches, but at a price. The churches run exorcism, or
"deliverance", evenings where the pastors attempt to drive out the
evil spirits. Only they have the power to cleanse the child of evil
spirits, they say. The exorcism costs the families up to a year's
income.

During the "deliverance" ceremonies, the children are shaken
violently, dragged around the room and have potions poured into their
eyes. The children look terrified. The parents look on, praying that
the child will be cleansed. If the ritual fails, they know their
children will have to be sent away, or killed. Many are held in
churches, often on chains, and deprived of food until they "confess"
to being a witch.

The ceremonies are highly lucrative for the spiritual leaders many of
whom enjoy a lifestyle of large homes, expensive cars and designer
clothes.

Ten years ago there were few cases of children stigmatised by
witchcraft. But since then the numbers have grown at an alarming rate
and have reached an estimated 15,000 in Akwa Ibom state alone.

Some Nigerians blame the increase on one of the country's wealthiest
and most influential evangelical preachers. Helen Ukpabio, a
self-styled prophetess of the 150-branch Liberty Gospel Church, made a
film, widely distributed, called End of the Wicked. It tells, in
graphic detail, how children become possessed and shows them being
inducted into covens, eating human flesh and bringing chaos and death
to their families and communities.

Mrs Ukpabio, a mother of three, also wrote a popular book which tells
parents how to identify a witch. For children under two years old, she
says, the key signs of a servant of Satan are crying and screaming in
the night, high fever and worsening health - symptoms that can be
found among many children in an impoverished region with poor health
care.

The preacher says that her work is true to the Bible and is a means of
spreading God's word. "Witchcraft is a problem all over Nigeria and
someone with a gift like me can never hurt anybody," she says. "Every
Nigerian wants to watch my movies." She denies that her teachings and
films could encourage child abuse.

One British charity worker is fighting to help the children
stigmatised as witches. Gary Foxcroft, 29, programme director for the
UK charity Stepping Stones, Nigeria, first came to the country in 2003
to research the oil industry for his masters degree. But he was so
shocked when he learned about the children's plight that he decided to
help raise money for the refuge - the Child Rights and Rehabilitation
Network (Crarn) - and try to persuade the parents to take their
children back. He has also helped to build a school for the children
who are refused places at local schools.

"Any Christian would look at the situation that is going on here and
just be absolutely outraged that they were using the teachings of
Jesus Christ to exploit and abuse innocent children," says Mr Foxcroft
whose expose of what he describes as "an absolute scandal" will be
screened in a Channel 4 documentary on Wednesday.

The Niger Delta is an oil-rich region but the wealth does not reach
the people who live there. The locals blame their hardship on the
Devil but international analysts point to the oil industry's
large-scale contamination of air, land and sea.

In the documentary, the charity worker visits one of the pastors, a
man who calls himself "the Bishop" and who claims to be able to drive
evil spirits out of "possessed" children. At his church in Ibaka, the
Bishop pours a homemade substance called African mercury, a potion of
pure alcohol and his own blood, into the eyes of a young boy lying on
a table. "I want this poison destroyer to destroy the witch right now,
in Jesus' name," he says.

The priest charges £170 - in a country where millions of people are
forced to live on less than £1 a day - for "treating" a child every
night for two weeks, and holds them captive until the bill is paid.

He has recently refined his techniques for dealing with child witches.
"I killed up to 110 people who were identified as being a witch," he
says. He claims there are 2.3million "witches and wizards" in Akwa
Ibom province alone.

The children's shelter was started five years ago when Sam Itauma, a
Nigerian, opened his house to four youngsters accused of witchcraft.
Today, he and his five staff are caring for 150 youngsters. "Every
day, five or six children are branded as witches," he says "Once a
child has been stigmatised as a witch, it is very difficult for
someone to accept that child back. If they go out from this
community... there is a lot of attacks, assault and abuses on the
children." Children often arrive at the shelter with severe wounds,
but few clinics or hospitals will treat a child believed to be a
witch.

"Christianity in the Niger Delta is seriously questionable, putting a
traditional religion together with Christian religion - and it makes
nonsense out of it," he says. "If you are not rich and don't have
anything to eat, you look to blame someone. And if you don't get
anything, you blame it on the witches."

Christians have been in Nigeria since the 19th century and the Niger
Delta area claims to have more churches per square mile than any other
place on Earth. The vast majority of the country's 60 million
Christians are moderate, but an influx of Pentecostals over the past
50 years has led some churches to be dominated by extremist views.
Five years ago, the Nigerian government passed a Child Rights Act,
which made abuse illegal, but not every state has adopted it.

At the refuge, a baby girl called Utibe and her five-year-old sister,
Utitofong, are dumped at the gate by their mother because a "prophet"
told her that Utitofong was a witch and had passed the spell to her
sister. The mother, who spent four months' salary on an unsuccessful
exorcism, left them at the centre because she feared they would be
killed. The police are called but locals offer them no help.

Mr Itauma goes to the village to try and convince the locals to accept
the daughters' return, but the older girl is threatened by a man with
a machete. "Get away from our food - I'll kill you," he shouts. Utibe
is allowed to stay, but the older girl has to go back to the refuge.

At the end of the film, Mr Foxcroft and all the "child-witches" stage
a demonstration at the Governor's residence in the state capital, Uyo,
and urge him to adopt the Child Rights Act." After four hours the
Governor comes out and says the Act will be adopted. It has since been
adopted, but so far not a single pastor has been convicted of any
offence. And the rescue centre still takes in up to 10 children a
week.

Mr Foxcroft took Mary back to her village where he was told that her
father left a year ago to find work in Cameroon. A cousin says: "She
is a witch, we don't want her here." Mary is now back at the refuge.