The risks of being a child in the village

Before my mum left and on her last day here with me in the orphanage she got to witness one of those sad stories that I see here from time to time.

This is Godwin. He is five years old. He was brought to see me by his father who works here on site in the farm at GSF. Straight away both my mum and I could see that Godwin had the most awfully infected earlobe. It was huge and he must have been in so much pain. His father explained that the ear had become infected after he had tried to ‘pierce’ his son (pierce his ear).  Godwin’s father explained that they are living in a poor part of the local village and their hut is deep in the village, far from the road. They know that there is a witch doctor in that area who is catching children for sacrifices. Godwin’s cousin had been chased last week by the witch doctor, which had frightened the family so they started to pierce the children, and sadly Godwin’s had gone wrong.

I explained to my mum that witch doctors in this area take ‘perfect’ children and behead them. They then offer their heads as a sacrifice to their gods. Offerings are made for all sorts of reasons and local people will approach the witch doctor and ask them to make sacrifices on their behalf (and at a cost). A child sacrifice is the highest of them all. A child will only be taken if he or she is ‘perfect’, i.e. has no scars or defects on their head. Families here will all pierce the children’s ears in order to make sure that they are not eligible to be taken. 

Seeing Godwin reminded me of another example one of our teenagers had told us when she returned back to GSF from a home visit at Christmas. She had watched one of the witch doctors carry a 6-month-old baby off to the forest and then later return without the baby. Everyone in the village knew what he was doing. We asked her why no one called the police but she said that the police would not come or do anything about it so no-one bothers. We asked her how she was dealing with it as it sounded quite traumatic and she just shrugged and said that it was just how it was here.

It shocks me that families here have to deal with this and it is 'just' something that happens. Life is so tough here. Godwin’s father said that as soon as the ear was healed he would again try to pierce his ear because he wants to protect him and make sure he was not at risk. The family are unable to move away as Godwin's father cannot afford another property that is in a ‘safer’ area. Please pray for Godwin, his cousin and for all of the children living in the village who are exposed to such horrendous risks. Pray for God’s protection over these precious children and over the dark powers that are in this country.