Nigeria has recently been prominent in the international media for all sorts of reasons. This time around, it is not about the economy; it is about the rejection of a two-year-old boy for alleged witchcraft.
New York Times, Huffington Post, Telegraph, The Independent, Mirror of London and many others are reporting the country for the decision of a Nigerian family to reject a child believed to be a witch.
Anja Ringgren Loven, the Danish woman who saved the little boy, has been able to raise $1 million for his road to recovery.
The boy, who was named Hope by Loven, was left to feed off road-side junk thrown at him by passers-by for eight months in Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom state.
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Putting up a post about Hope’s rescue, Loven lamented that thousands of children in Nigeria were being accused of witchcraft in the country, leading her to sell all her belongings to care for them.
“I’ve seen much here in Nigeria over the last 3 years. I have spared you for many experiences when we’ve been on the rescue operations,” she said.
“Thousands of children are being accused of being witches and we’ve both seen torture of children, dead children and frightened children. This footage shows why I fight. Why I sold everything I own.
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“Why I’m moving out in uncharted territory. Why the new documentary is so important for dinnødhjælps work so we can shout world leaders up so we can get focused on superstition in Nigeria!”
With Hope recuperating, Loven expressed hope that he survives, and shared pictures of his gradual recovery before seeking funds to support his medical bills.
“I hope you will all see with when Anja Africa is being shown on TV. Together we can make the biggest difference. I have chosen to call the boy ‘Hope’, for right now, we all hope that he survives.
“He is in the hospital and you guys want to support Hope with medicine and hospital bills as you daily pay for hospitalisation here in Nigeria, [you] can make a contribution on dinnødhjælps mobilepay: 27 21 24 34”.
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She appreciated Danes, who had “donated about $1 million” for the child, saying “where there is love, there is life”. She also apppreciated another child in the orphanage for keeping him with smiles.
“If anyone can get little Hope to smile, then it’s David Jr. We just got back from the hospital and hope’s condition is now very stable.
“He gets blood transfusion every day so he can receive red blood cells. He has many worms in his stool. The worms giving him some pain.
“He eats even and he’s out and go a little every day. Enjoy equal these lovely pictures of a very happy and smiling hope who apparently appeared to David Jr. Is very entertaining.
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“Hope is getting so much better. Already gaining a lot of weight and looking so much healthier. Now we only need him to talk. But that will come naturally when he is out of the hospital and starting his life among all our children.”
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26 comments
This is all too sad and painful! Ignorance in its worst form! How does a parent throw out a toddler into the streets? If the child is believed to have been contaminated with a spirit of witchcraft, it cannot possibly be his fault. He is a victim! The child simply needs prayers and the spirit should be casted out in Jesus Name and not the child casted out! May God help us.
Are you Kidding this is a disgrace God or no God Prayers for who
to even think of witchcraft which stone age are you from the aid worker on this single act of humanity is by far the closest thing to the most heart felt human act
@Jameswk… I guess your comment implies that you dont believe in the existence of God nor in that of Satan, simply because you are civilized and gone past the stone age?… It makes no difference what anybody believes or not cos TRUTH is constant and stands alone thro all ages. The child needs spiritual as well as physical and emotional healing cos man is made up of spirit, soul and body. What the lovely lady is offering this traumatized child is crucial but cannot heal the spirit, only prayers can.
What are you a Doctor of my dear “Doctor”, sorcery perhaps? Why do Africans always regress to the banal and unintelligent when confronted with serious issues? A two year old can be a witch, whatever that means? Really? Have you considered that poverty is really the underlying cause of this evil act by the parents? Have you seen well off parents throw their kids into the street as witches even among those backward believers ? Please my dear person, we need to get out of the deliverance mindset. The rest of the world has left us behind to our backward beliefs.
@Joeboy… I am a doctor of Medicine, a Bible Teacher and a grandmother, so i was talking out of knowledge and experience of life… Dont be too hasty to condemn other people’s submission about issues you know nothing about. And always use polite language – thats what people with good home-training do
The child needs food, medical care and a home. I can sit here and pray and pray and pray and that is not going to feed and cure him. He needs prayers??? wow! I totally agree with you!
Please if this boy is initiated do they have to fight flesh and blood and if they realize that he has spirit of witchcraft then the same spirit that they use in discernment can be used to deliver, so why make the child hungry when he is not the spirit living inside him, Please they should take him to Synagogue church of all nations for deliverance.
Dr Bunmi, you seem to appear sympathetic and humble but underneath is I fear religious arrogance. What has happened to this child in the name of God is horrendous. It arouses fierce emotions. Challenging your views is not a sign of rudeness nor lack of enlightment. Some of us are also old, learned and ‘spiritually’ informed. As you know what you think you know, I also know what I and others know: witchcraft time has passed. Use knowledge and facts to deal with issues not over active evil imagination
Thanks for your response to the so-called Medical Doctor, pastor and grandmother, all titles that only impress her. This is the problem with us in Nigeria and Africa. Educated people who should know better are talking about witchcraft in the 21st century , and I am supposed to suffer them gladly? No, I won’t. The lady is learned but not educated . I am also fed up with all this blackmail about good family upbringing, whatever that means.
Spirituality gone bad!!
good job loven!
There is no end to education. What is lacking that led to this ugly situation is spiritual education. There is need for spiritual education and in particular dissemination information by anointed men of God and deliverance minister.
God rehabilitate men by making a way through Jesus Christ. This same love God wants us to show other fellows.
From the same men of God who slap “witches” in their churches? Nah!
why can’t CHRISTIANITY or CHRISTENS see through this illusory cloud of “deliverance-through-holy spirit” inapplicable option and response that continues to obfuscate what should have been their logic driven innate reasoning?
@jopeola u missed it.synagogue is not of God.its the association of magicians n witch doctors.any of u that think TB Joshua will heal u is making hell of mistake.u are deceived.
hmmmm, my people perish because of lack of knowledge! The boy does not need any deliverance from any pastor what he needs is proper care and good food and love… God bless the white Lady
Dear All,
this acts of labeling children, especially a toddler and throw him by the road side for about 8 months is the height of wickedness human heart can ever conceive. more worrisome, is the refusal of “men of God and people of conscience living in that vicinity or passing by to rescue the child before a foreigner came to the rescue.
Definitively, Hope is a child of destiny to have survived on the street naked for so long.
All the comments I have read tend towards people believing and still dwell in spiritual healing and that to me is the crux of the problem. We are so naive that we take everything even as practical as some may be to the alter of a priest who makes religious fortune out of it. What makes any normal person think so is what Karl Max defined religion to be. The Opium of the masses and this has clearly permeated our society that anywhere there is miracle is where everybody troops in to worship believing the pastor who will say generational curse, witchcraft spirit etc is the cause of the problem. Shame unto that parents and all those who believe it could have been cast out rather than casting the child
Jesus Christ’ statement “The truth shall set you free” has seriously been misunderstood by many Clergymen and their blind followers and that’s why they all remain in that bondage of superstition and promote all sorts of reasoning created by the devil and exist in dread till grave. The truth only set you free when you know what the truth is: that satan creates and promotes lies of which the “witchcraft” is among the lies that are holding those blind followers captive. Just like an anti-virus software programmer write virus to sell his anti-virus, so Satan creates fears so as to hold you captive with false religion…. You remember this verse “The god of this system of things is transforming himself to angel of light”? Yes, he does this through all these religions that promote spiritism Get to know the truth which is in the pages of God’s word the Bible and be freed from all these religious beliefs created and promoted by the devil through his false religion littered everywhere.
IN THE ERA OF MARY SLESSOR THEY LIED AGAINST THE TWINS TO BE DEVILISH BUT THANKS TO MARY IN CALARBAR SO LET US FACE THE REALITY AND LEAVE THE FICTION
The boy ‘Hope’ is a victim of poverty, ignorance, and irresponsible parenting- the real demons that stiffle the hope of the African child. The real deliverance the African child needs is deliverance from poverty, lack of comprtitive education
The boy ‘Hope’ is a victim of poverty, ignorance, and irresponsible parenting- the real demons that stiffle the hope of the African child. The real deliverance the African child needs is deliverance from poverty, lack of globally competitive education,and child abuse, which is the gap Loven and others like her are plugging.
@Philip, the issue of the Hope Boy is not about poverty as you express. it’s all about false ,cultic religion plaguing the whole world and Nigeria specifically. it is also about the community leadership. Where are Nigerian dollar multi-billionaire’s in all these. they are dumb rich. the town he comes from looks a great city and state is all oil producing. remember that Nigeria will be 9th richest nation in the world in the next 20 years or so. but their wealthy ones are very showy and proud to help! most people in western world don’t know this!
Hope is the strongest that has ever lived, He lived by the power of God, he survived because God knew he was created for a purpose! I thank our God for taking care of him while he was wandering in the wilderness and I also thank the good lady for allowing herself to be used by God to take care of children who wrae delibaretely abandoned by their parents! I have come to ask myself that where is the sense of humanity in a woman who throw her 2year old son to the street and who will pass a 2year old child in the street and live longer and happier without guilt, without wondering whose child is that! Last of all, what is the law doing to protect our children and the society in general!
Love which is the greatest force on earth is just what is enuff for little Hope…my heart goes out to him and I wonder how a mother in her right senses would throw out a toddler… you see just what was missing in his mother is all that he needs LOVE…so pls brother and sisters instead of us arguing and making conclusions.. lets share our love with little Hope and believe that one day he’d be renamed LOVE….
I’m sorry but this child is NOT possessed! His parents abandoned him. Not because there is something bad inside him, but because there is something bad inside of them!! Some of these so called “christians” are so stupid! does santa claus come to your house too. geeezzz