In Nigeria, a nun takes care of abandoned children labeled as witches

Three years after welcoming 2-year-old Inimffon Uwamobong and her younger brother, Sister Matylda Iyang, she finally heard from her mother who had abandoned them.

"Their mother came back and told me that she (Inimffon) and her younger brother are witches, asking me to throw them out of the convent," said Iyang, who oversees Mother Charles Walker's children's home at the Holy Child's handmaids. Jesus convent.

Such an accusation is not new to Iyang.

Since opening the home in 2007, Iyang has cared for dozens of malnourished and homeless children on the streets of Uyo; many of them had families who believed they were witches.

The Uwamobong brothers have recovered and have been able to enroll in school, but Iyang and other social service providers face similar needs.

Health care and social workers say that parents, guardians and religious leaders brand children as witches for several reasons. According to UNICEF and Human Rights Watch, children subject to such allegations are often mistreated, abandoned, trafficked or even murdered.

Across Africa, a witch is culturally regarded as the epitome of evil and the cause of misfortune, disease and death. As a result, the witch is the most hated person in African society and subject to punishment, torture and even death.

There have been reports of children - labeled as witches - having nails driven into their heads and forced to drink concrete, set on fire, acid-scarred, poisoned and even buried alive.

In Nigeria, some Christian pastors have incorporated African beliefs about witchcraft into their brand of Christianity, leading to a campaign of violence against young people in some locations.

Residents of the Akwa Ibom state - including members of the Ibibio, Annang and Oro ethnic groups - believe in the religious existence of spirits and witches.

Father Dominic Akpankpa, executive director of the Catholic Institute of Justice and Peace in the diocese of Uyo, said the existence of witchcraft is a metaphysical phenomenon on the part of those who know nothing about theology.

"If you claim someone is a witch, you should prove it," she said. She added that most of those accused of being witches could suffer from psychological complications and "it is our duty to help these people with counseling to get out of that situation."

Witch profiling and child abandonment are common on the streets of Akwa Ibom.

If a man remarries, Iyang said, the new wife may be intolerant of the child's attitude after being married to the widower and, as such, will throw the child out of the house.

"To achieve this, he would accuse him of being a witch," Iyang said. "That's why you will find many children on the street and when you ask them, they will say that their stepmother kicked them out of the house."

He said poverty and teenage pregnancy can also force children to take to the streets.

Nigeria's penal code prohibits accusing, or even threatening to accuse, someone of being a witch. The Child Rights Act of 2003 makes it a crime to subject any child to physical or emotional torture or subject them to inhuman or degrading treatment.

Akwa Ibom officials have incorporated the Child Rights Act in an effort to reduce child abuse. In addition, the state adopted a law in 2008 that makes witch profiling punishable with a prison sentence of up to 10 years.

Akpankpa said criminalizing injustices against children was a step in the right direction.

“Many children have been labeled as witches and victims. We had baby factories where young women are kept; they give birth and their babies are taken and sold for monetary gain, ”the priest told CNS.

“Trafficking in human beings was very alarming. Many baby factories were discovered, and the children and their mothers were rescued while the perpetrators were brought to justice, ”he added.

At Mother Charles Walker Children Home, where most children are welcomed and sent to school with a scholarship, Iyang demonstrates the Catholic Church's commitment to protecting children's rights. He said that most of the malnourished young people the order receives are those who have lost their mothers in childbirth "and their families bring them to us for treatment."

For contact tracing and reunification, Iyang formed a partnership with Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare. The process begins with parental verification by gathering information about each child and their location prior to separation. With the information in hand, an investigator goes to the boy's hometown to verify what he has learned.

The process involves community leaders, elders and religious and traditional leaders to ensure that each child is properly integrated and accepted into the community. When that fails, a child will be placed on the adoption protocol under government supervision.

Since the opening of the Mother Charles Walker Children Home in 2007, Iyang and the staff have cared for around 120 children. About 74 reunited with their families, he said.

"Now we have 46 left with us," he said, "hoping that their families will one day come and get them or they will have adoptive parents."