Children are targets of Nigerian witch hunt
Evangelical pastors are helping to create a terrible new campaign of violence against young Nigerians. Children and babies branded as evil are being abused, abandoned and even murdered while the preachers make money out of the fear of their parents and their communities.
Almost everyone goes to church here. Driving through the town of Esit Eket, the rust-streaked signs, tarpaulins hung between trees and posters on boulders, advertise a church for every third or fourth house along the road. Such names as New Testament Assembly, Church of God Mission, Mount Zion Gospel, Glory of God, Brotherhood of the Cross, Redeemed, Apostalistic. Behind the smartly painted doors pastors make a living by 'deliverances' - exorcisms - for people beset by witchcraft, something seen to cause anything from divorce, disease, accidents or job losses. With so many churches it's a competitive market, but by local standards a lucrative one.
But an exploitative situation has now grown into something much more sinister as preachers are turning their attentions to children - naming them as witches. In a maddened state of terror, parents and whole villages turn on the child. They are burnt, poisoned, slashed, chained to trees, buried alive or simply beaten and chased off into the bush.
Some parents scrape together sums needed to pay for a deliverance - sometimes as much as three or four months' salary for the average working man - although the pastor will explain that the witch might return and a second deliverance will be needed. Even if the parent wants to keep the child, their neighbours may attack it in the street.
This is not just a few cases. This is becoming commonplace. In Esit Eket, up a nameless, puddled-and-potholed path is a concrete shack stuffed to its fetid rafters with roughly made bunk beds. Here, three to a bed like battery chickens, sleep victims of the besuited Christian pastors and their hours-long, late-night services. Ostracised and abandoned, these are the children a whole community believes fervently are witches.
Sam Ikpe-Itauma is one of the few people in this area who does not believe what the evangelical 'prophets' are preaching. He opened his house to a few homeless waifs he came across, and now he tries his best to look after 131.
'The neighbours were not happy with me and tell me "you are supporting witches". This project was an accident, I saw children being abandoned and it was very worrying. I started with three children, then every day it increased up to 15, so we had to open this new place,' he says. 'For every maybe five children we see on the streets, we believe one has been killed, although it could be more as neighbours turn a blind eye when a witch child disappears.
'It is good we have this shelter, but it is under constant attack.' As he speaks two villagers walk past, at the end of the yard, pulling scarfs across their eyes to hide the 'witches' from their sight.
Ikpe-Itauma's wife, Elizabeth, acts as nurse to the injured children and they have called this place the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network, a big name for a small refuge. It has found support from a charity running a school in the area, Stepping Stones Nigeria, which is trying to help with money to feed the children, but the numbers turning up here are a huge challenge.
Mary Sudnad, 10, grimaces as her hair is pulled into corn rows by Agnes, 11, but the scalp just above her forehead is bald and blistered. Mary tells her story fast, in staccato, staring fixedly at the ground.
'My youngest brother died. The pastor told my mother it was because I was a witch. Three men came to my house. I didn't know these men. My mother left the house. Left these men. They beat me.' She pushes her fists under her chin to show how her father lay, stretched out on his stomach on the floor of their hut, watching. After the beating there was a trip to the church for 'a deliverance'.
A day later there was a walk in the bush with her mother. They picked poisonous 'asiri' berries that were made into a draught and forced down Mary's throat. If that didn't kill her, her mother warned her, then it would be a barbed-wire hanging. Finally her mother threw boiling water and caustic soda over her head and body, and her father dumped his screaming daughter in a field. Drifting in and out of consciousness, she stayed near the house for a long time before finally slinking off into the bush.Mary was seven. She says she still doesn't feel safe. She says: 'My mother doesn't love me.' And, finally, a tear streaks down her beautiful face.
Gerry was picked out by a 'prophetess' at a prayer night and named as a witch. His mother cursed him, his father siphoned petrol from his motorbike tank and spat it over his eight-year-old face. Gerry's facial blistering is as visible as the trauma in his dull eyes. He asks every adult he sees if they will take him home to his parents: 'It's not them, it's the prophetess, I am scared of her.'
Nwaeka is about 16. She sits by herself in the mud, her eyes rolling, scratching at her stick-thin arms. The other children are surprisingly patient with her. The wound on her head where a nail was driven in looks to be healing well. Nine- year-old Etido had nails, too, five of them across the crown of his downy head. Its hard to tell what damage has been done. Udo, now 12, was beaten and abandoned by his mother. He nearly lost his arm after villagers, finding him foraging for food by the roadside, saw him as a witch and hacked at him with machetes.
Magrose is seven. Her mother dug a pit in the wood and tried to bury her alive. Michael was found by a farmer clearing a ditch, starving and unable to stand on legs that had been flogged raw.
Ekemini Abia has the look of someone in a deep state of shock. Both ankles are circled with gruesome wounds and she moves at a painful hobble. Named as a witch, her father and elders from the church tied her to a tree, the rope cutting her to the bone, and left the 13-year-old there alone for more than a week.
There are sibling groups such as Prince, four, and Rita, nine. Rita told her mum she had dreamt of a lovely party where there was lots to eat and to drink. The belief is that a witch flies away to the coven at night while the body sleeps, so Rita's sweet dream was proof enough: she was a witch and because she had shared food with her sibling - the way witchcraft is spread - both were abandoned. Victoria, cheeky and funny, aged four, and her seven-year-old sister Helen, a serene little girl. Left by their parents in the shell of an old shack, the girls didn't dare move from where they had been abandoned and ate leaves and grass.
The youngest here is a baby. The older girls take it in turn to sling her on their skinny hips and Ikpe-Itauma has named her Amelia, after his grandmother. He estimates around 5,000 children have been abandoned in this area since 1998 and says many bodies have turned up in the rivers or in the forest. Many more are never found. 'The more children the pastor declares witches, the more famous he gets and the more money he can make,' he says. 'The parents are asked for so much money that they will pay in instalments or perhaps sell their property. This is not what churches should be doing.'
Although old tribal beliefs in witch doctors are not so deeply buried in people's memories, and although there had been indigenous Christians in Nigeria since the 19th century, it is American and Scottish Pentecostal and evangelical missionaries of the past 50 years who have shaped these fanatical beliefs. Evil spirits, satanic possessions and miracles can be found aplenty in the Bible, references to killing witches turn up in Exodus, Deuteronomy and Galatians, and literal interpretation of scriptures is a popular crowd-pleaser.
Pastor Joe Ita is the preacher at Liberty Gospel Church in nearby Eket. 'We base our faith on the Bible, we are led by the holy spirit and we have a programme of exposing false religion and sorcery.' Soft of voice and in his smart suit and tie, his church is being painted and he apologises for having to sit outside near his shiny new Audi to talk. There are nearly 60 branches of Liberty Gospel across the Niger Delta. It was started by a local woman, mother-of-two Helen Ukpabio, whose luxurious house and expensive white Humvee are much admired in the city of Calabar where she now lives. Many people in this area credit the popular evangelical DVDs she produces and stars in with helping to spread the child witch belief.
Ita denies charging for exorcisms but acknowledges his congregation is poor and has to work hard to scrape up the donations the church expects. 'To give more than you can afford is blessed. We are the only ones who really know the secrets of witches. Parents don't come here with the intention of abandoning their children, but when a child is a witch then you have to say "what is that there? Not your child." The parents come to us when they see manifestations. But the secret is that, even if you abandon your child, the curse is still upon you, even if you kill your child the curse stays. So you have to come here to be delivered afterwards as well,' he explains patiently.
'We know how they operate. A witch will put a spell on its mother's bra and the mother will get breast cancer. But we cannot attribute all things to witches, they work on inclinations too, so they don't create HIV, but if you are promiscuous then the witch will give you HIV.'
As the light fades, he presents a pile of Ukpabio's DVDs. Mistakenly thinking they are a gift, I am firmly put right.
Later that night, in another part of town, the hands of the clock edge towards midnight. The humidity of the day is sealed into the windowless church and drums pound along with the screeching of the sweat-drenched preacher. 'No witches, oh Lord,' he screams into the microphone. 'As this hour approaches, save us, oh Lord!'
His congregation is dancing, palms aloft, women writhe and yell in tongues. A group moves forward shepherding five children, one a baby, and kneel on the concrete floor and the pastor comes among them, pressing his hands down on each child's head in turn, as they try to hide in the skirts of the woman. This is deliverance night at the Church of the True Redeemer, and while the service will carry on for some hours, the main event - for which the parents will have paid cash - is over.
Walking out into the night, the drums and singing from other churches ring out as such scenes are being repeated across the village.
It is hard to find people to speak out against the brutality. Chief Victor Ikot is one. He not only speaks out against the 'tinpot' churches, but has also done the unthinkable and taken in a witch to his own home. The chief's niece, Mbet, was declared a witch when she was eight. Her mother, Ekaete, made her drink olive oil, then poison berries, then invited local men to beat her with sticks. The pastor padlocked her to a tree but unlocked her when her mother could not find the money for a deliverance. Mbet fled. Mbet, now 11, says she has not seen the woman since, adding: 'My mother is a wicked mother.'
The Observer tracked down Mbet's mother to her roadside clothing stall where she nervously fiddled with her mobile phone and told us how her daughter had given her what sounded very much like all the symptoms of malaria. 'I had internal heat,' she says, indicating her stomach. 'It was my daughter who had caused this, she drew all the water from my body. I could do nothing. She was stubborn, very stubborn.' And if her daughter had died in the bush? She shrugged: 'That is God's will. It is in God's hands.'
Chief Victor has no time for his sister-in-law. 'Nowadays when a child becomes stubborn, then everyone calls them witches. But it is usually from the age of 10 down, I have never seen anyone try to throw a macho adult into the street. This child becomes a nuisance, so they give a dog a bad name and they can hang it.
'It is alarming because no household is untouched. But it is the greed of the pastors, driving around in Mercedes, that makes them choose the vulnerable.'
In a nearby village The Observer came across five-year-old twins, Itohowo and Kufre. They are still hanging around close to their mother's shack, but are obviously malnourished and in filthy rags. Approaching the boys brings a crowd of villagers who stand around and shout: 'Take them away from us, they are witches.' 'Take them away before they kill us all.' 'Witches'.
The woman who gave birth to these sorry scraps of humanity stands slightly apart from the crowd, arms crossed. Iambong Etim Otoyo has no intention of taking any responsibility for her sons. 'They are witches,' she says firmly and walks away.
And by nightfall there are 133 children in the chicken coop concrete house at Esit Eket.
· Watch the video: Child witches in Africa
Here's another song I though I'd share. From time to time I add one on here that I feel might be something someone is needing to hear.
Every once in awhile I am in range enough to catch bits and pieces of one of my favorite Christian radio station. One of my favorite parts of their program is when a one minute segment called "ground wire" comes on. They are little stories that illustrate perfectly a message from God. Many times I hear them and think great job, that one wasn't for me. Then there are the other times when you feel like it was addressed directly to you.
The other day one came on called "Bugs on the Windshield." As I was fumbling around on their web site, I found a recorded version of that segment. I copied it and am now going to share it with you.
BUGS ON THE WINDSHIELD -groundwire.net
As I was driving one day the collection of bugs on my windshield was quite impressive, they littered the glass with all kinds of shapes and colors. I had to look through them to see the road. As I drove the freeway I became curious. For some reason I cannot explain, I leaned forward to look closely at their remains. As I did this I began to drift in the road. Of course I didn't realize this until I could hear my tires hit the rumble marks along side the road, warning me of approaching danger. When I heard the caution, I sat back up and gained control of the vehicle and concentrated on the road.
That example has helped me learn that what I focus on will determine where I go in life. Although God should be my focus, my road. If I choose to concentrate on the circumstances, the distractions and frustrations of this life, I will drift off the course. However, when I take time to look towards God everyday, I will more effectively traverse the roadway.
As a Christian, I believe you should fight the urge to become distracted by everything else vying for your attention. Instead, you should sit back and focus on the God who loves you. You will like where that road takes you.
What do you think of when you hear the word expired? I think of milk, coupons, gift certificates, or some date on many different products I may have purchased. The last thing I would think of is someone passing away. That is exactly what I got after calling a nursing home this week asking if a resident was still there.
I deliver birthday cards to anyone my company (ambulance company) may have transported in the past. Since the list comes up by birthday and not by the last time we transported them, 80% of them have sadly died. I used to go to the facilities and ask the front desk for room information, but after experiencing many times the were presently absent (due to death usually), I started calling.
I was blown away this week when I asked about a prior resident and was told they expired. The first thought that came to my head was clumpy stinky milk. Then I was mildly upset thinking this must be what they tell people like myself who call and ask about folks who are no longer there. Isn't there any other word they can come up with? I think there are plenty of other ways to express the death of someone other than using the term expired. Am I in left field on this? What do you think?
Gal 5:16 " Walk in he spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."
I have been being attacked spiritually recently. Several months ago I would listen to Christian radio on my way to and from work. I was laid off and the radio does not work in the car I drive. I would regularly attend church, now I am so busy working, I miss 1-2 Sundays a month and am so distracted while I am in church that I hardly find it beneficial. I do prison ministry twice a month, and now have been skipping that due to being busy. I have a Friday morning Christian Businessman's Breakfast I attend for city professionals, and I am so busy I completely forget about it until midday on Friday's. Friday isn't Friday to me. I work 7 days a week.
Several years ago I struggled with an alcohol addiction. My body depended on it so much it would start shaking without it. Without the help of any professionals or meetings, I consumed all my free time in the church and overcame my addiction. With the absence of church, I have recently started drinking again. It started out as a drink or two every now and then and has now become a drug to me. I find that after drinking a few drinks, my problems are gone. I realize the fix is temporary, but I can drink again tomorrow to fix the next days problems. What is truly happening is I'm falling out of touch with God and his desires, and drifting back into a life style that once was the norm for me.
I am a fairly open person which is the entire reason for sharing any of this with anyone who reads this. I am asking anyone who is reading this to pray for me. Pray that God pulls me from the places I am drifting. I would also pray that God fixes my current job situation. I truly feel that has contributed greatly to the problem. I work 7 days a week and it is still not enough to completely fulfill our financial obligations.
Another season is quickly coming upon us. We recently watched our team say goodbye to our best defensive player in a couple years Zack Follett, as well as the only receiver who showed he had some hands last year our TE Cameron Morrah.
One thing the coaching staff has done well is get the younger guys some playing time after we have built big leads. That being said, the players may be relatively new, but they are not inexperienced. The defense looks to be our strong point again this year as we still have no QB - more on that later. With Jahvid Best returning for what will most likely be his last year, you can expect great things from our always consistent running game. Shane Vereen also provided an occasional spark while coming off the bench. The exit of Alex Mack will require the offensive line to step up to keep the running back tradition alive.
Now to the QB position. This hurts to say, but I'm kinda sad to see Nate (INT) Longshore go. What he did his first 2 1/2 years was outstanding. He dropped back and threw strikes to our three deep stud receivers for touchdown after touchdown. Even during the last year in a half while splitting time with Riley, it was nice to see a real pass with some zip to it come from one of our QB's. God knows Riley can't put anything on his passes. Lame ducks fluttering through the air, or the occasional air ball is what we can expect to see again this year as it looks like he has an edge in the QB position. You can't tell me he's the best we've got. Year after year Coach Tedford's reputation alone brings in at least one 4-star highly recruited QB to Berkeley. You're telling me all of them are worse than Riley?
Back to Jahvid Best. All Cal fans know what he can do and what he means to this team (everything!). What he did last year to end the season however opened up the eyes of the nation as he is now on many people's Heisman watch lists. The final three games he rushed for 698 yards and 9 touchdowns averaging 232 yards per game, the last being against Miami on national television. Stanford gave up 201 yards and 3 TD's, Washington sat down while he ran past them for 311 yards and 4 TD's, while Miami did only a little better giving up 186 yards and 2 TD's. We wont talk about all the receiving yards he racked up while catching his little dump passes and then burning everyone he ran past.
The big questions this year will be the wide receivers and quarterbacks. If anyone can catch the ball before they run, please raise your hands. Riley if you fumble into the starting job behind the center, it's not enough to just not look like Ayoob, step up and be the quarterback we saw burn Air Force in the bowl game two years ago.
I rented this movie from a red box inside a grocery store unaware of what it was about. I soon experienced the process each fallen soldier goes through while returning from war and coming home to be buried. I talked to a friend of mine who is now a Marine recruiter after serving in Iraq several years back. When I referred him the movie he said he had watched it already. He then added something unexpected, he didn't need to see it, he lived it. I was caught off guard by this and asked him what he meant (wondering if he had once escorted someone home). My friend then told me that Chance Phelps (the fallen soldier in the movie) was in his platoon when he was in Iraq. I guess he was right, he did live it. I highly recommend this movie. It is an HBO movie and may be difficult finding to rent. I bought a copy at Best Buy.
For several weeks, myself and the people working for me had grown our sales. The growth was slow, but very steady. When a challenge was placed before us, we rose to the occasion, and hit the goal. It took everything we had, but it happened.
The next week an even bigger goal was placed before us. That's when things feel apart completely. Guess what happened? We obviously didn't hit the new goal. However, something interesting did happen, we only fell 1 sale short of the week it took everything we had to hit the earlier goal. As I thought about everything, I saw it as a blessing. I now realized our best was way better than we had been doing.
My boss heard of my optimism, and reissued the same goal. Letting us have another crack at this challenge was great. We put together a plan and then BAM!, there it went again. A sales rep quit, 2 went out of town, and another was in an accident.
I am now on my own without the challenge this week, but more determined than ever to reach the goal. There will be no reward this time other than confirming to myself that all along it was very possible. The last two weeks, sales have crawled backwards each week. This shows the real importance of team work. Had everyone been working and healthy, things would have gone well.
I now know how Billy Bean of the Oakland A's must feel. He generally buys budget players and tries to get them to over achieve while developing young talent. This year he spent a little bit of money only to see the entire pitching staff step up as fill in starters. In addition, key acquisition Nomar Garciaparra, and long time and often hurt 3rd baseman Eric Chavez have missed nearly all of their games. Everything looks good on paper and there's nothing you would change except getting everyone together and healthy all at the same time. I'm in that place now. I don't need new people, I just need everyone together at the same time. One thing is certain, life happens. There is nothing you can do to prevent some things. Just stay positive, work hard and it will take care of itself.
Most of us have heard that before. The rest of it goes that often we look at the closed door so much we never see the one that's opened for us. I find myself in that place now.
Tuesday I picked up my last check and yesterday turned in my work truck. Tomorrow my family will be moving. There is a definite sense of closure. For whatever reason, God is turning a chapter in my life right now. I find myself so stunned at the results that I fail to see the future.
All I've really done career wise is survey. So many companies have folded during this recession. The remaining companies are doing everything in their power to stay afloat. That being said, who is hiring? Nobody really. If you are lucky enough to find one of the few places, the competition is fierce. I truly find myself looking at the possibility of a career change. That creates another challenge. There are few places that have entry level positions that pay nearly $30 hour.
Whatever lay ahead, I try to be open minded in hopes that I don't miss the " opened door". While cleaning out my truck yesterday I found a verse that I had not read in awhile. The timing could not have been more perfect. On an index card was the verse I had written nearly a year ago 1 Thess. 5:16-18.
" Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
I find myself in constant prayer about when and where my next pay check will come from. I pray for answers, signs and comfort during this time of feeling uneasy. Although I may not have the answers yet, I feel like yesterdays verse was a sign. God was telling me not to worry, that I was right on track.
I've been slacking a little on my posts. I have no excuse, occasionally I'll find something to write about, and then become uninspired to do so. So, this is mostly an update on what's been going on in my life.
For starters, I've have worked 5 days this month, 2 of those in the beginning. The call yesterday telling me no work for today meant I have worked only 3 times in the last 3 weeks. In the down time, I've been spending time meeting with people and putting things together for a possible run marketing the Stockton Record newspaper. If all goes well, I will have an outside sales account with them again in a week or two. This is not to replace my income, but to supplement. Although currently there's nothing to supplement. I need to have everything ready to go so there's no lost money during any transition. So, I'm assuming I'll get it and be ready to go when I get the word.
Currently at church, I've been getting everything in line for a chili cook-off this Saturday. Yesterday I handed out nearly 100 flyer's and spent some time talking with church neighbors. I have another 100 for today. I also ordered the trophy that will go to the winner. The cook-off is a fund raiser for the upcoming Men's Ministry retreat. As of this morning I thought only 3 guys (self included) would be able to make it to the retreat, but it appears that by tonight that number may double.
Last Friday night the Men's Ministry had a movie night. Not at the movies, but a get together at someones house. Everyone brought food and then we watched The Emperor's Club. Following the movie there was a couple of discussion questions that stirred nearly an hour of conversation. The night went better than I had planned. There will definitely be another 1 or 2 of those this year.
In other news, I will be moving next weekend back to Stockton. The current landlord tried to get us to allow strangers to walk through the house while we were still here in it "in order to get us our deposit back". I had to remind him that the return of our deposit was only contingent on us leaving the house in the same condition we received it. That's when I found out he was broke and needs the next renters deposit to refund ours. He said we could go to court over it and even through a judgment, we would not get the money until another renter rents the home. He said he simply does not have it. He has been struck by the economy as well. He said he has 7 vacancies and 2 evictions. I feel for him, but I'm not giving a guided tour through my home to strangers. Oh yeah, he want's us to give the tours. He won't come over to do it. We will be out a week earlier than I told him. I let him know he was welcome to walk people through the vacant house during that last week.
Until next time - God Bless.
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Simply Prayer Updated: Oct 26, 2009
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New Day Community Church Updated: Jun 17, 2008
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Recent Comments
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Eric Farley said:
Kristina, I will pray for you and those who were hurt by the incident. Thank you for reading my blog. read more
on I FISHED NEXT TO A GUY W/ A MILLION DOLLAR WARRANT -
kristina said:
ive lived with billy potts his grandaughter is my best friend and he took my best friend ive lived with... read more
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Alicia said:
[this is good]Way to stand up for yourself with that landlord. Sounds like a good compromise. I can't wait for you all... read more
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Alicia said:
[this is good]Such a simple, but really good idea! read more
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