Stigma and Survival: The hidden struggles of children of alleged witches
Ms. Yakubu Asana (not real name), a student of the Gnani M/A Junior High School in the Yendi Municipality of the Northern Region is in a world shrouded in shadows that extend far beyond the ordinary childhood fears.
Perceptions
The bright and curious student faces a daily battle, not with textbooks or homework alone, but with a pervasive stigma that seeped deep into her life.
Her grandmother, accused of witchcraft has been ostracized and banished from their village and she leaves afar from her.
For fear of her life, the grandmother had to run to the Gnani alleged witch camp, a place of refuge, where accused persons seek refuge from torture and death.
However, Asana was sent to the camp to take care of the ailing and frail grandmother.
As a result, she is frequently branded as a “witch’s child” by her peers at school. This derogatory label isn’t merely a matter of teasing, but something that penetrates deep into the educational system, affecting her academic performance and social interactions.
Ordeal
Sharing her ordeal with the Ghana News Agency programme at Gnani, the 15-year-old girl said some of her colleagues in school often shun her as they believed her grandmother had given her some powers which she could also use to harm them.
She cited instances where her colleagues in school refused her invitation to eat together or study with her.
“The students coming from this village do not have problems associating with us, but those from the nearby communities are always shying away from us” she said.
Aside from the exclusion from group activities, Asana said the stigmatisation was having a toll on her academic performance as she was worried and not concentrating on her studies.
Just like Asana, Yakubu Safia (not real name), a pupil of the Kukuo E/P primary school in the Nanumba North Municipal in the Northern Region, is also facing similar predicament.
Safia’s grandmother, a victim of witchcraft accusation was sent to the Kukuo alleged witches camp 10 years ago for refuge.
She said the regular challenge was impacting her psychological well-being and confidence level, a crucial element for every young girl in the adolescent stage.
“I sometimes fight with my colleagues making mockery of me and call me a witch. I always weep over it, anything I complain to my grandmother” she said.
For Safia, the rippling effects of the stigma and exclusion extend beyond the schoolyard as some people continue to shy away from her even in the community.
Situation
In the past, girls remained at home while their brothers attended school because of poverty, covering long distances to schools and family’s decisions to let the girls remain at home to attend to domestic issues including attending to younger siblings, but with interventions by many CSO’s, The Ghana National Education Coalition (GNECC) to advocate gender quality and National accountability in education.
However, reports show that In sub Saharan Africa, girl-child education scored lowest in the regions in terms of gender parity in education with an overall score 54 per cent against global average of 75 per cent.
Challenges
Not only in the sub region of Africa, but worldwide, also is girls’ education still facing numerous barriers stretching far beyond mere access and retention but also poverty and stigmatization from the cultural barriers.
The abuse of the vulnerable and minority in society is also casting a slur on development and growth of many girls.
Innocent chaps like Ms Asana and Ms Safia are some of the many children and dependents of poor middle and old women inmates of the various alleged witch camps in the Northern and North East Regions bearing the brunt of witchcraft accusations.
Most of the inmates fled with their children to the camps for safety when they were banished from their communities over witchcraft accusations, while others had grandchildren and other dependents taking care of them at the camps.
Unfortunately, these children and dependents are facing serious exclusion from the society as they are labelled “witches’ children” and are denied associating with friends in schools.
School dropouts
However, due to the absence of schools within the camps, the children for want of education are compelled to attend schools in nearby communities, but due to the stigma associated with them, many of them have dropped out of school because of these challenges they faced in school.
Beyond negatively affecting children’s education, the situation is also affecting the mental health and general growth and development of the children.
Currently, there are about six alleged witch camps across Northern Ghana, where more than 1000 accused aged are camped; namely Gambaga, Kpatinga, Leli Dabari, Kukuo, Gnani and Nabuli witch camps all in the North East and Northern Regions of Ghana.
Checks by the Ghana News Agency revealed that, there are about 800 children and dependents living in these camps.
Out of this, some have been enrolled in schools while others are engaged on farms to work and feed their parents and relatives in the camp.
Impact
Mr Alhassan Shei, the Chief Priest and Caretaker of the Gnani alleged witch camp, in an interview confirmed the situation and said it was seriously affecting their education.
“The stigmatisation of the children is very worrying, sometimes their peers’ points fingers at them and it is mostly done by outsiders who don’t leave with them in the camp.
It is more serious when they move out of the community and people find out that they are from the camp, they point fingers at them and call them witches’ children” he said.
Mr Alhassan said the community had school infrastructure with the support of some religious organisation and non-governmental organisations, where the children attended and added however that even with that, some teachers refused posting to the school to teach because of perceived fears.
On steps taken to prevent the stigmatisation, the Chief Priest indicated that “we have been educating the community members not to stigmatise them but rather mingle with them so that when people from outside see, they will know that there is nothing about them to fear”.
Measures
Corroborating the assertions of the children and the Chief Priest, Madam Mariama Alhassan, an inmate at the Kpatinga camp said her child who could not bear the stigma did not want to go to school and appealed to authorities and various stakeholders to intensify education to curb the stigma on the children and protect their rights.
Mr Kadiru Fusheini, Head Teacher of Kukuo E/P primary school, said the school authorities had observed that some of children and dependents of the inmates were being traumatized by their peers.
He said “even though we have taken measures to prevent the stigma in the school, it is still happening. We try as much as possible to educate the children and ensure that they all take part in academic and extra curricula activities”.
Beyond the stigma and exclusion, he said the children were also facing several challenges including lack of reading materials, feeding among others which were negatively impacting on their studies.
Special attention
Similar stories exist in the rest of the camps except the Gambaga camp, where special attention is extended to the inmates and their children and grandchildren.
This ‘special treatment’ is because the Gambaga camp is preserved as a major tourist site and because the Presbyterian Church has adopted and manages it.
The Gambaga camp has inmates of 87 with only 17 children. Some of the children have completed tertiary institutions and are currently employed whilst the rest are currently in school.
Reverend Gladys Lariba Mahama, Coordinator of the camp in an interview said before the church stepped in to take care of the inmates, the stigma on both the inmates and their dependents was rife to the extent that they could not receive medical care at the health centers when they fell sick because other patients knowing their status ran away from the OPD on seeing them.
However, she said through sustained sensitizations and integration strategies, they were now living peacefully with the indigenes without any concern, adding that “unlike the other camps, as for the children here I have not received any complaint of stigma for a very long time”.
Rights violation
Negative human rights violations that impact on children include; denial of right to education, curtailment of their right to freedom, psychological trauma, engaging in hard labour and becoming subject to societal mockery and discrimination.
These violations contradicts Children’s Rights as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana which Article 28 (a) of the Constitution states: Every child has the right to the same measure of special care, assistance and maintenance as is necessary for its development from its natural parents.
On education, article 25 (1) of the same Constitution states, persons shall have the right to equal educational opportunities and facilities with a view to achieving the full realization of that right to all forms of education.
Similarly, the UN Convention on the rights of the child, which Ghana adopted and ratified in 1998 also set out parameters, which serve as a guiding principle to the interest and welfare of the child in the world over.
Hajia Lamnatu Adam, a Human Rights Activist and Executive Director of Songtaba described the situation as worrying and said some of the children could be traumatized because of the stigma.
“We must intensify sensitisation in the camps, schools and communities for all the children in the areas to see themselves as one people. This needs collaborative efforts from all stakeholders” she added.
Witchcraft accusation
Witchcraft accusations and violence against the aged, especially women have become an aged-long worrying practice in the Northern part of Ghana.
There are rampant reported cases of people being accused of witchcraft and that has often led to violent attacks on the victims, burning down their homes by their accusers, who are mostly the youth.
Over the years, many of the aged women have been accused of being witches, tortured and banished from their communities
While most victims of such accusations are often chased out of their communities others are physically attacked and lynched to death.
The situation has resulted in the setting up of alleged witch camps in some communities, where most of these accused women are seeking asylum.
Anti-witchcraft bill
Although, Parliament of Ghana has passed the Anti-witchcraft Bill into law in 2023, the President is yet to give an assent to it to make it a law to criminalize all accusation and attacks on the aged.
This followed the lynching of 90-year-old woman in Kafaba in East Gonja Municipality in July 2020.
The Executive Director of Songtaba, a Tamale-based NGO believes the Presidential assent of the bill into law was the surest way to protect the vulnerable women, unjustly accused and subjected to inhumane treatment as well as their dependents.
Mr Kwabena Amankwaa Asiamah Edu, Chairman Education Committee of Parliament also speaking in an interview with journalists said such vulnerable children deserved inclusive education and should not be separated to remain only in the camps for their education.
SDGs and way forward
For children like Asana and Safia, their only wish is for quality and inclusive education which is being threatened by persistent stigmatisation
To address this, there is the need to intensify education and create an inclusive environment for the children to thrive.
Until then, there is no guarantee that there would be the desired progress in ensuring that Ghana achieves the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) which calls for quality and inclusive education for all by ensuring gender parity, increasing attendant rates at primary schools, completion rates of primary school education, participation in tertiary education and elimination of all forms of discrimination in education.
By Fatima Anafu-Astanga
Source: GNA