Chrissy Jaeger

African Crucible:

I don’t know how much this pertains to the class, but when I read it, wow! It really caught my attention. There are children in Africa who are facing a very primal fear: being accused of being a witch. These children are being accused of witchcraft and then either tortured and killed or tortured and thrown out. The reasons behind this are that the parents want an excuse to not have to feed and care for another child. There is religious belief behind witchcraft, but there has been a huge rise in this child phenomenon where children are being blamed and thrown out.

The problem is how much you can do because it is a religious belief and it is okay to kill witches. There is a program that is currently attempting not to dispel the belief in witches but the belief in killing children that no matter what the cause children never deserve to die. Violence against children is never justified. This really just blew my mind, that hundreds of children a year are being thrown out or killed because their parents cannot care for them and so claim religion over their irresponsibility.

I guess if we must equate it to something more western it’s like some religions today who suggest that taking medicine is not believing in Gods healing power, and as a result many children have died at the hands of their parent’s lack of caring for them through medicine. Where does the line get crossed? Murder I think is another line then a sickness taking someone’s life. Can you imagine, murdering your child because you blame them for witch craft due to some suffering that occurred when they were near. It is so foreign to us, but to these Africans, it is a common occurrence, and not only that, but acceptable.