5 children a day accused of being witches in Nigeria - EVERY DAY!

Photo: ©Robin Hammond

And being accused of being a witch means a horrible life, or often death for the poor child.

If the parents aren't willing or able to pay a preacher to chase out the devil, then the child is abandoned, or mutilated, or killed, or a combination of that.

"The deeply held belief by the people of Akwa Ibom State and the Efik speaking communities in Cross River State cuts across all tiers of society. Widely read and travelled academics and local villagers fear such children. This fear stems from the belief that a spiritual spell can be given to a person through food and drink. The soul of the person who eats this spell will then leave the body to be initiated in a gathering of witches and wizards. The initiated person will then have the power to wreak havoc, such as causing diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, hepatitis, typhoid, cancer. All accidents, drunkenness mental health problems, smoking of marijuana, divorce, infertility, and misfortunes are seen to be the handiwork of witches and wizards. In recent times it is believed that children have become the target for initiation by the elderly witches as they are more susceptible to their spells and are quicker in action."

Children are chopped with machetes, burned with acid and buried alive. All this is done in the name of Christianity! If you are a Christian, please demand that your church take a stand against such practices by other so-called Christians!

Below are links to a documentary on this atrocity "Dispatches: Saving Africa's Witch Children"..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUJSME0TORw Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7C8Znyf510 Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE8epBkSPfo Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYG-h1avVrc Part 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nH8ZJbJ9lY Part 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXUKF8dHf4A Part 6

To donate funds to care for these abandoned and traumatized children, go here:

http://www.steppingstonesnigeria.org