Hello all, so today I wanted to share some very sad news with you all, mostly to try and spread awareness of some of the horrible things that are going on in the world. I think that the majority of people don't know about most of the horrendous things that happen in other countries, not to mention our own. Either that or they ignore it and go about their daily lives as if nothing bad is happening and that everyone in the world has a perfect life. However, I'm sad to say that this just isn't the case. In-fact, it's at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Let me begin by telling you about the many children who have been accused of witchcraft in Africa.
In most cases, when a family member dies, the youngest child of the family is blamed for causing their death because they are supposedly a witch or wizard. They are then beaten or abused by parents, some even taken to priests to be exorcised. The less lucky ones are either killed or abandoned to fend for themselves on the streets. Below is an image of two children who have been accused of witch craft. You can see the large injury on the older child's head, that looks as if she has been hit by something hard. It's heart-breaking how some people treat others, especially their own off-spring.
One of the main reasons that this occurs I believe, is lack of education and lack of laws. There is currently no law set up to make this behavior illegal. Below is an image of young children protesting to get help from the government.
Luckily charities have been set up, including the one that will be showed in the video that i'll link below. This is how I originally found out about the witch children in Africa. The video explains how one man built a school for children who are kicked out of their original schools because they are believed to be witches. Therefore they have a home to live in and will still be getting an education.
Although this is a very sad post, I hope that you found it interesting and educational. Please give it an upvote and a resteem to show your support and follow me for more updates on this topic in the future. As always, thanks so much for reading and I hope that you all have a great day.
The issue has been brought to the barest minimum, but you know it is still a long way to go. The state governor is doing everything he can, even passing a bill in the legislature outlawing the archaic practice of branding children as witches.
In 2008 he signed a bill into law making it a criminal offence, punishable by up to 15 years in prison to label a child a witch. See Aljazeera report on that here.
There is a family court special set up for it in 2014. See details here.
It should be recalled that these practices was only observed in remote areas of Akwa Ibom States with mostly very Illiterate parents. But there has been tremendous improvements between 2008 (when the report you are writing about happened) and presently.
This is no longer practiced.
To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.
- Mahatma Gandhi