Africa: Children mistreated, accused of sorcery
In Africa, thousands of children are accused of being “witches” and thus maltreated or killed, announced the Vatican agency Fides on September 25, 2014. They are even held responsible for the present epidemic of the Ebola hemorrhagic fever.
Thus, in Togo, in the west of Africa, a document from the Salesian Missions confirms that in 2013, thousands of children of the region of Kara, in the north of the country, were maltreated or killed because they were considered as “witches”.
The agency Fides quoted, on September 20, the report entitled Children Accused of Witchcraft in the Region of Kara, explaining the causes and consequences of this reality “that strikes many children”, now refugees “in the Don Bosco House in Kara”. Part of the population attributes extraordinary powers to these children, considering them capable of causing pain, sickness and death.
The animist belief claims that they are able to turn themselves into animals in order to eat human flesh and drink blood. – The Church has fought against the practices of paganism for centuries. Especially in Africa, the missionaries fought against animism and witchcraft. As the Church and the Faith recede, the practices are coming back in full force.
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(Sources: apic/fides – DICI no.302 – dated October 10, 2014)
