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Nearly thirty years of civil war left many, but not all, in
Angola in a poverty crisis, and such poverty means many families
simply cannot afford to raise their children. In Angola it is
considered unacceptable to abandon a child because of such
poverty, but if the children are possessed by the devil, well,
that's a different matter. Angola is one of a
handful of countries where allegations of child witchcraft are on
the rise along with Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic
(CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Nigeria. Children
accused of being witches have been crippled, tied up, burnt and
left to die. It would be easy to assume that such such practises go back
generations however the phenomena, if it can be called that, is
of fairly recent origin, within the last 20-40 years and has
been undoubtedly fuelled by the proliferation of so called
churches who offer their services, at a cost, to exorcise a
child.
In Angola the phenomenon became most noted towards the end of
the 1990s when an unusually high number of children were seen
living on the streets, particularly in northern Angola, having
been thrown out by their parents. On investigation it became
apparent that most of these children had
been accused of witchcraft and this sharp rise in numbers
reflected the number of smaller and Pentecostal churches
often led by Bakongo and Congolese pastors that had set up
alongside traditional churches such as Catholic, Baptist,
Tocsoista, and Kimbanguista in the region. A United States Agency for International Development report
stated "In today's circumstances, self-made preachers
can easily set up their pulpits and mete out predictions for
those seeking an easy fix for their grief and misfortune. When
prophecies fail, the preachers might easily blame continued
misery on spurious causes, such as witchcraft, often turning on
children as the source because they are easy to blame and least
able to defend themselves.
A family seeking the advice of their
preacher might, for example, be told that their handicapped
child is causing their continued misery, citing the child's
disability as a clear indication that he or she is a witch." The answer, according to these pastors was an exorcism. Such exorcisms are brutal in nature and have been known to
include starving the child, beating them into confession and
pouring petrol into them as well as other harmful substances. Such exorcisms made good money for the pastors charging
around 25UK for each exorcism successful or not; this on top of
an earlier fee for investigating the possibility the child is a
witch. It is in their interests to detect signs of witchcraft in
the children, which often preys upon an already established
belief by the family or community that the child has brought
hardship and loss in the family.
As
for the risk, as one pastor retorted dismissively "Why should
the child die? If the child dies, it means the child is evil."
Most of the accused are boys with the majority aged between aged
8-14, however a wide range of children are at risk of being
accused of being witches, in fact any child who stands out from
his or her peer group including for simply being gifted. Confessions from the child just confirm the accusations, but
with confessions, including one child recently claiming he had
killed eight hundred people while flying with other witches on a
piece of tree bark, merely appears to confirm that such
accusations have little to do with genuine beliefs but a way of
off loading children who are seen as little more than an
economic burden. Just as sinister, many of these children have unwittingly
become witch finders with their unsafe and unfounded accusations
being used to convict and punish adults who are entirely
innocent of any wrongdoing. The short video documentary (below) explores the issue of child
witches in Angola.
Angola Child Witches: Volunteer in Angola
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Angola Child Witches: Angola Children
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Angola Child Witches: Child Sponsor Angola
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Angola Child Witches: Angola Profile
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