Here's is a true life account of something that happened when I was a kid, 5-6years old we lived in a fairly large compound, which comprised of different families occupying different flats. We had a family in our compound back in Oworonshoki Bariga in Lagos, who attended a white garment church and were fully immersed in the rites and commandments of the said church. One fateful day, the family informed the rest of the tenants in our compound that one of their kids, a girl of about my age, had the spirit of witchcraft in her, According to them during an intense exorcism in church, which included whipping her with brooms, spiritual chants and sprinkling holy water, she confessed to being the cause different incidents in the compound. Of course as a kid when you have been stripped naked and thoroughly whipped, you will pretty much confess to being the cause of 2nd world war. Her confession included being the spirit of bed wetting, soup going bad in the kitchen, missing pieces of meat and stealing. They claim she also confessed that she was on a mission to initiate the other children in the compound. Our parents immediately gave us stern warning not to go close her, playing with her or even speak to her. My Mom, well being a overly paranoid christian doused our foreheads in so much anointing oil that all you needed was some heat and you can easily fry dodo on our forehead. We immediately segregated the said girl. We took advantage of her situation and pointed at her whenever we wet our beds; after all we had the spirit of bedwetting in the compound. After sometime, the same patents came back to inform us that the spirit has left her and she was back to normal without telling us where it came from and where it went. The damage had already been done and the stigma of being called a witch or a possessed person was already stamped on the innocent child, so we still refused to play with her.
Now looking back, I Wonder about the phsycological effects this would have on the girl and the ripple effects it would have on her character. The experiences a child faces while growing up tends to affect how they perceive the world around them. I decided to write my experience after reading about Anja Ringgren Loven, a Danish woman living in Nigeria who rescued a child that had been abandoned by his family on occasions of witchcraft. The emaciated child, named Hope, was riddled with worms after being forced to live off scraps of food thrown to him by passersby for eight months these practices which are quite prevalent in cross River, Akwa Ibom, Edo states and its surrounding communities should be investigated and acted upon by relevant authorities and organizations. Children shouldn't be subjected to such dehumanizing acts. Most of these situations arise from extreme poverty and downright ignorance from the from the side of the parents/ guardians who strongly believe someone or something is the cause of their misfortune. In this age and time, a jail term should should be slammed on the parents/ guardians in the incidents like these and the child removed from such homes and rehabilitated....
What a story. Poverty has eaten deep into the minds of many people. The whole situation is just another form of slavery.
Children are meant to be loved.
My god.... poor girl. Yeah of course she would confess to anything just to stop the torture. It's a mad world sometimes.