School Projects

In your country, people once believed in ‘magic’ too. Almost every culture has been superstitious at some point in history and used supernatural means to, for example, heal people or pray for a better harvest. For people living before the 1700s, magic was a common part of everyday life. They thought the world was a mysterious and frightening place, so when accidents, natural disasters, or inexplicable diseases occurred, they explained it with supernatural forces. Similarly, it is a traditional African belief that everything has a supernatural cause.

In the poor villages of Nigeria, life is very different from what you know. Poor people don’t go to school and don’t have the opportunity to learn about the world as you do. Therefore, they start to form their own beliefs. They become superstitious, and accusations of witchcraft have become a way for them to explain why a family member has become sick or suddenly died, or why accidents happen around them.

When a child is accused of being a witch, they are abandoned by the village. The villagers are convinced that the child can cause accidents and harm them. Therefore, they want to kill the child, and the child must flee and hide to survive. In some cases, so-called “witch doctors” offer to cure the child. They may pour poison into the child’s mouth, beat and cut the child to drive out the demons. But they just do more harm to the child, and sometimes their treatments also kill the child. Being abandoned by their village is very dangerous for a child because it is difficult to survive and find food when you are all alone in the world.

Land of Hope collaborates with village chiefs in the surrounding poor villages. It is important that we have a good relationship with them and that they trust us because then they are willing to cooperate with us when a child is accused of being a witch. They call us with information about the child, and sometimes they also take the child in to protect them until we can come and pick them up. Every year, more than 10,000 children in Nigeria are accused of being witches, and unfortunately, we cannot save them all. It is very hard to know. But those we can save, we do everything we can to save.

Som people think we can pick up the children directly from the streets, but it is actually very difficult to get permission to rescue a witch child. If we take a child without the permission of their family or village chief, we can be accused of kidnapping. We must at least have police approval if we cannot get the approval directly from the family, and that can take a very long time. If the child is at risk of dying, we can take them to the hospital, but nurses and doctors also believe in witches, so they are not always willing to help the child. And then you must remember that witch children are afraid of adults. It is adults who have harmed them, so they do not always trust us. They may try to run away from us, even though we are trying to help them.

One of Land of Hope’s most important values is: Education. All our children must go to school because knowledge is the key to overcome superstition. We tell our children about their rights. In 1989, the UN adopted a Convention on the Rights of the Child, which 190 countries around the world have signed. It ensures all children basic rights regardless of nationality, gender, social status, religion, and culture. Our children need to know this so they understand that what they have been subjected to is not allowed, and that their rights have been violated. But one thing is to have rights, and another is how you feel inside. Therefore, Land of Hope’s Child Development team continuously works with the children’s mental health. We give the children a new community and secure adult relationships, we let the children express themselves through music, art, and sports, and we work with their talents so they experience success. We can never remove the pain they felt when they were abandoned by their village and family, but we can give them love and care.

Land of Hope is not an orphanage but a family. We are the legal guardians of the children and have authority over them, but we also love them as a family. When the children have completed an education and are adults, they decide for themselves where they want to live. They may move to attend university or to apprentice somewhere, and then a natural process occurs where they detach themselves. We raise all our children to be independent individuals and to take responsibility for their own lives. But they are always welcome home to Land of Hope, where they grew up.

Witch superstition is so deeply rooted in the entire culture in Nigeria that it will take a long time before we see changes. Through Land of Hope’s awareness work in Nigeria, we can help influence the culture. The more people who are enlightened about the harmful superstition, the better. Nigeria is a very poor country. 129 million people live in extreme poverty, and 18.5 million children do not go to school. That means that large parts of the population are ‘on their own’, and therefore superstition grows among them. But there is hope, and we are hopeful at Land of Hope. We see changes in small steps, and we know that we will reach our goal if we just hold on and keep going. You also play a big role. You can be the children’s voice and help us spread the knowledge of our work in Nigeria.

It is rare that it is the children’s own family who have accused them of being witches. In most cases, it is an acquaintance of the family, a religious leader, or a village chief who has a lot of power over the village. Regardless of who it is, all children have the right to know their family, and the children also miss their family, especially their siblings who are innocent in this situation. When we take the children back to the village, we can show the villagers that the children are healthy, attend school, and do not look like someone possessed by evil demons or witchcraft. This helps to weaken the belief in witches. We never force the children to visit their family if they do not want to.

None of our children are forced to see their family again. It is their own decision, and therefore they usually look forward to it. They often pack a big bag of gifts for their family. It could be clothes, toys, or candy that they themselves have received but have saved because they want to share it with their siblings or parents. This really shows the strong bond between them and their families. In most cases, it is not the children’s own family who have accused them of being witches. When a family experiences their child being accused of witchcraft, they can be forced to abandon the child, otherwise, the entire family would suffer. Parents risk being killed or endangering the rest of the family. So, the families are also very happy to see the children again.

None of our children have yet expressed a desire to move away from Land of Hope to live with their family again. But they might ask if they can visit their family and stay there a bit longer at a time, for example, a month instead of a week. Many of our children spend their school holidays back in their villages. And when the children reach an age where they naturally move out, they usually prefer to start their own independent lives rather than live with their parents.

When a child is accused of being a witch, it is a belief so deeply rooted in African culture that there is no doubt about it. So, they do not regret it. However, when they see the child return home on visits over time, and see that the child looks healthy, attends school, and leads a good life, they no longer believe the child is a witch.

Hope is doing well at Land of Hope. When we rescued Hope back in 2016, he was only about 2 years old. He has lived at Land of Hope for a long time now and leads a very normal life, attending school and participating in extracurricular activities. Hope has a delightful personality. He is both funny and silly, but also loving and caring towards the other children. He loves to dance and be creative – and he loves spending time with Anja’s son, David Junior, who is around his age and has grown up with him like a brother.

Hope is confirmed to be deaf. We don’t know if it’s due to the malnutrition he suffered as a child. We’ve tried to provide him with hearing aids, but he has chosen not to use them and instead has developed his own way of expressing himself. He communicates through sounds and sign language but does not speak like other children. Despite this, he is a joyful boy with confidence and a great love for storytelling.

Hope’s mother was only 15 when she gave birth to Hope. His father was 50 at the time and one of the village leaders. Unfortunately, rape, abuse, and child labor are part of the story of Hope’s mother, and she ended up being sent away to Lagos. We cannot go into more detail about this for security reasons. But today, we have reestablished contact with Hope’s mother, and she visits Hope regularly at Land of Hope. Their relationship is developing positively, but Hope will continue to live at Land of Hope. Hope’s mother also has another son, Daniel, who is Hope’s younger brother, and we hope that the two can meet one day. Actually, Hope’s real name is Steven, but his mother also likes the name Hope.

Life in Nigeria is far from the life Anja came from, but a hard upbringing is not unfamiliar to her. She grew up in Frederikshavn in a small row house with her mother, older sister, and twin sister. Her mother died when she was young, and her father was an alcoholic. She herself struggled with depression, anxiety, and anorexia as a young person. When Anja was in her 20s, she saw an English documentary about witch children in Nigeria. She saw how the children were tortured, buried alive, and killed due to accusations of witchcraft, and it lit a fire in her and an anger towards world leaders who do nothing to stop it. The anger awakened a childhood dream of Africa, which she decided to fulfill. First in Malawi and later Tanzania as an aid worker. After a few years, she founded her own aid organization, which today is Land of Hope. Many wonder what made Anja give up her safe life in Denmark and travel to one of the most dangerous areas of Nigeria. To that she usually replies: “I just followed my heart”.

Anja thinks the best part of her work at Land of Hope is getting to experience the children’s development. How they go from being abandoned and scared children on the streets to becoming strong, independent individuals who pursue an education, for example at university, and create a good and bright future for themselves.