I watched a documentary on UK's
Channel 4 Dispatches: Saving Africa's Witch Children
It was one of the most harrowing things I have seen all year
''In some of the poorest parts of Nigeria, where evangelical religious fervour is combined with a belief in sorcery and black magic, many thousands of children are being blamed for catastrophes, death and famine - and branded witches by powerful pastors. These children are then abandoned, tortured, starved and murdered - all in the name of Jesus Christ.
This Dispatches Special follows the work of one Englishman, 29-year-old Gary Foxcroft, who has devoted his life to helping these desperate and vulnerable children. Gary's charity, Stepping Stones Nigeria, raises funds to help Sam Itauma, who five years ago, rescued four children accused of witchcraft. He now struggles to care for over 150 in a makeshift shelter and school in the Niger Delta region called CRARN (Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network).
Gary and Sam introduce Dispatches to some of the rescued children who have been through unimaginable horrors, such as Ekemeni, aged 13, who was tied up with chicken wire and starved and beaten for two weeks, and Mary, aged 14, who was burnt with acid before her mother attempted to bury her alive. Other children display the hallmarks of witch-branding - acid burns and machete scars. Uma Eke, aged 17, has been left brain-damaged after having a three-inch nail driven into her skull.
Hospitals refuse to treat children associated with sorcery, so Sam's centre does its best to provide medical aid. As well as the physical scars, the children arrive at the shelter badly traumatised by their experiences, with many of them brain-washed into accepting they are possessed by the devil.
The parents or siblings of children torture them in an attempt to kill them or force confessions from them to admit that they are witches. As Gary remarks, the children at CRARN are the lucky ones - they're still alive.
Influential preachers from the more extreme churches brand the children witches or wizards and exploit their desperate parents by charging them exorbitant amounts of money in return for exorcising the spirits. The film features extraordinary access to some of the preachers who openly discuss their work. One preacher who calls himself 'The Bishop,' says he has made a fortune by carrying out 'deliverances' on children. He admits having killed 110 people in the past. Dispatches films him as he administers a mixture of pure alcohol, a substance known as 'African mercury' and his own blood to one child accused of witchcraft.
Exorcism is big business. Preachers can charge as much as a year's salary for an average Nigerian to treat children. They often hold the child captive until the parents can pay up. The Niger Delta area is oil rich - but very few have access to oil wealth; the average life expectancy is around 47.
Gary visits the CRARN centre regularly from the UK - a risky journey for a westerner. He works alongside Sam to try to persuade parents to take their children back. Dispatches follows Gary as he travels to a small port which has a growing problem of abandoned children. He soon finds himself followed by a five-year-old girl, Mary, who has been ostracised for being a witch, following the death of her mother. As Gary tries to talk to her, an angry crowd gathers. She is clearly traumatised, malnourished and in real danger, so he takes her to her old village in an attempt to reunite her with her family. But with her father long-gone, her extended family wash their hands of her - terrified: "she will poison everything." Gary takes her back to the centre and after dedicated care, she begins a slow recovery.
Gary has been politely petitioning the local state government to enact the Child Rights Act which has been accepted by the National Federal Government, but to no avail. He decides on more direct action and buses the children to the governor's residence, holding a demonstration for four-hours in the blazing sun before being granted an audience. The protest is successful but a steady flow of around 10 children a week continues to enter the centre.
Shocking and tragic, Dispatches reveals the plight of the thousands of innocent children who suffer intolerable cruelty at the hands of so-called Christian pastors. As Gary, Director of UK Charity Stepping Stones Nigeria, says: "It's an absolute scandal. 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."
You can find out more about the work of Stepping Stones Nigeria at
www.steppingstonesnigeria.org''
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The video footage is even more shocking.
Now you can take one guess about what specific brand of church actively encourages this fervour and makes a killing off the poorest by 'intrepreting' the incoherent babblings of a scared and crying child and pushing 'cures' however there is an increasingly prevailance of this pervading churches affiliated with the Anglican Communion too. The overlap between religious fervour and tribal and animist culture is the cornerstone of many Christian churches in rural southern Nigeria. Seperating the two is a very difficult task even with the aid of Christian missionaries.
However it gets a little more perverse than that....
'According to the Metropolitan Police there have been almost 60 cases of child abuse related to witchcraft or possession reported to Scotland Yard in the past two years alone. Few receive much publicity but perhaps the best known involved eight year old Victoria Climbié. Branded a witch by a local pastor in London in 2000, she was tortured to death by her guardians. More recently, the torture and abuse of 'Child B' who was accused of witchcraft in London in 2005, and the torture of two boys by their father in Bradford linked to a belief in witchcraft and possession highlight a growing problem.
It is not illegal to accuse a child of being a witch in the UK and members of the UK African community openly acknowledge the growing influence and powers of the pastors - that allegations of witchcraft are taking root here and something needs to be done.
"They're brainwashing them with ideas that they can be witches or possessed with evil spirits. I think we're finding it hard to see a way out because church leaders are such strong people and are people to look up to in our community."
Moreover, with films promoting the idea of child witches being openly sold on London street markets and more extreme Nigerian preachers looking to set up churches in Britain and elsewhere, the problem will only get worse.'
