Angola Child Witches
Nearly thirty years of civil war have 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 20-30 years and has been undoubtedly fuelled by the proliferation of so called churches who offer their services, at a cost, to exorcise the child.
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. 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. This short video documentary explores the issue of child witches in Angola.


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