“Naomi is 15 but looks 10. A horrible burn scar shrivels the skin across her chest and shoulder….She is one of the so-called child witches of Kinshasa, rejected by her family and community at six years old and left to survive on the streets…. ‘Grandfather become sick and my aunt accused me of being a witch. She said, “Why is everyone around sick? They are suffering because of you.”…The neighbours beat me and burnt me….I was caught by some soldiers and they said, you are a witch – we saw you flying with birds. They said they were going to kill me, but I escaped.'” (Thousands of child ‘witches’ turned on to the streets to starve)
Witchcraft is something most of us have quickly forgotten about since Halloween has now passed, and would not venture to think about again until Halloween rolls around again next year. However children are being cast from their homes over fears and actuations that they are witches. No, I am not looking back into the depths of history and embarking on a journey back in time to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. I am talking about children who right this very moment have been, and are being, cast from their homes as fears of witchcraft have taken hold of their villages.
Sadly this is not a recent phenomenon which has only reared its ugly head in recent months, children have been facing alienation and persecution for a number of years due to accusations of witchcraft. “Children in Angola tortured as witches” by Paul Salopek (“The Chicago Tribune,” March 28, 2004), brought to light the horrors that many children in Angola where facing. At the time Matondo Alexandre, a child-protection expert with the United Nations Children's Fund in Angola, said “This is something new to us, in African culture it is usually the older people who are accused of practicing witchcraft. Now we’re even seeing cases popping up involving babies.” But almost four years has passed and children are still being systematically abused and alienated from their homes, beaten and sent to live on the streets in fear and shame and they are the luck ones, as others have been tortured to death.
In some parts of Angola, Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, alarming numbers of children are being accused of being witches. The accused children are beaten, abused, and often abandoned, or driven in fear from their homes and villages. Cast out of their families and villages, children are left with no where to turn but on to the streets. However some children are not as lucky, as they never make it to the streets, as they are killed in the witch hunt or die on their lonely journey of fear and escape.
"The witches situation started when fathers became unable to care for the children," said Ana Silva, who is in charge of child protection for the children's institute. "So they started seeking any justification to expel them from the family (African Crucible: Cast as Witches, Then Cast Out).” However it has not just been poverty and economic hardship that has driven people to accuse their children of witchcraft, the increase of war has also helped to fuel the fire. Former child soldiers have been turned away from their homes and villages for many reasons, including accusations of witchcraft.
“The perception of children started to change very quickly in the 1990s, when you had child soldiers starting to appear with weapons,” says Mr. Aguilar. “So the general perception was that children were a threat. Congolese society is using children as a scapegoat.” (In Congo, superstitions breed homeless children)
In the heart of the DRC, poverty is overwhelming and now it appears that it diamonds are fulling a new battle. In the diamonds minds it is children who do the majority do much of the labor for these sparkling jewels of the earth. And it is the children who are and many are killed in the fight for diamonds, and through the poor conditions in witch they are forced to labor in. It is the death of so many children that has begun to pull entire communities apart and has led to superstitions, which have caused thousands of children to be accused of witchcraft. “Many people here believe in witchcraft. It's part of Luba tradition…what is happening today…is new. Before, if someone was accused of having demonic powers the village would take the person and make them go through a purification ceremony. No one would ever be thrown out of their homes; certainly not a child. What's happening today is a result of urbanization and desperation caused by diamonds, says Charles Tchibanza, a sociologist from Mbuji Mayi University (Diamonds, children and witchcraft).
It is clear that the governments of Angola, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the international aid community must take a stand against these acts. Hands on efforts must be made in the local communities to educate them on the realities of their actions, and brake the cycle of these superstitions once and for all. We must also establish programs and awareness campaigns that work to remove the stigma from those children who have already suffered too long and needlessly.
Other Articles of Interest:
Poor Children: Child "Witches" and Child Soldiers in Sub-Saharan Africa – This article examines two different aspects of the accountability of children: those children who are thrown away by their families because they are "sorcerers," and those children who become soldiers and, through their involvement in armed conflict, inflict violence and death on others, including children.
The exact figures of children turned onto the street, or killed, as fears of witch craft continue to spread are unknown, and all are too high. Some figure I have seen include: 20,000 in Brazzaville, Congo's capital, 14,000 in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, one northern Angolan town identified 432 street children.
