Saving Nigeria's ‘Witch' Children

BEING classified as a child witch is tantamount to receiving a death sentence.

- Vanessa Papas

HEART-BREAKING photos of a two-year-old clinging to life – found starving and roaming naked in the streets – put a face on the plight of thousands of babies and children living in fear in Nigeria.

Branded as ‘evil’ by preachers and other members of his community, the toddler was abandoned by his family because they thought he was a witch. For months he survived on nothing but scraps of rotting food thrown to him by passersby. When Danish humanitarian worker Anja Ringgren Loven found him, the little boy was at death’s door. He was disorientated, his ribs were poking through his skin and his tummy was swollen, riddled with worms.

“When we first entered the village, I looked over my shoulder and slowly turned around to see a boy sitting on the side of the road. I thought I was going to see a bigger boy but when I saw he was the size of a little baby, my whole body froze,” says Anja. “We were told he had been fending for himself on the streets for eight months. I wrapped him in a blanket and rushed him to the nearest hospital where he had to undergo a life-saving blood transfusion.” Hoping for a miracle, she named the boy Hope. After two days, Hope’s condition was stable. He was eating and reacting positively to medication. “It wasn’t long before he was able to go home with me.”