An award-winning documentary co-produced by Dutch filmmaker Joost van der Valk focuses on the plight of children accused of being witches in Nigeria. The shooting of the film has brought positive change, but also tension,  in their community.
 
"Shocking"; "upsetting"; "cried all night"; "unbearable": the documentary film that won an International Emmy award this week leaves no viewer indifferent.
 
The British documentary Saving Africa's Witch Children, tells the story of thousands of children who are branded as witches by charismatic preachers in Nigeria and then either killed or tortured in horrifying excommunication ceremonies, often by their own parents.

Children like 9 year old Mary who during a religious ceremony in a Pentecostal church, is identified as a witch by a prophetess. Her parents accuse her of the killing of her younger sister. They pour hot caustic soda on her head and body, and then abandon her in a forest.

Measures

The shooting of the film brought attention to the plight of the children to local authorities who decided to take measures to end such practises. Dutch filmmaker Joost van der Valk is pleased with the film's positive impact in Nigeria's Akwa Ibom State where he and Britain's Mags Gavan shot the film in 2008.    
 
Now it's no longer allowed  to call a child a witch, and a lot of priests have been arrested as a result of the film. And there were many donations for the local NGO in Nigeria which were used to improve the accommodation for the children in the orphanage.
 
The award-winning film is not all gloom: children like Mary are rescued and brought to safety in a centre run by a local charity, the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN), whose President Sam Itauma is featured in the documentary.

Thriving orphanage

Mr. Itauma says that as a result of the film, which has not been shown in Nigeria, local authorities introduced free high school education in his state, located in the oil-rich Niger delta region. The local state governor signed Nigeria's Child's Rights Act, and the orphanage is thriving.
 
The attention generated by Saving Africa's Witch Children, however, has not made everybody happy in the community.
 
A lot of people in Nigeria feel that we have not presented Nigeria in a good light and have contributed to a negative impression of Nigeria, but we cannot hide the situation, so let's address it.
 
Mr. Itauma's charity has received threats and the orphanage has been attacked. Mr. Itauma no longer appears in public.
 

They are now out to stifle our activities so that we will not campaign against and they will continue with their nefarious activities in the name of God. I have to be very careful because my life, I must tell you, is under threat.
 

No surrender

Sam Itauma is not prepared to abandon the fight. Only last week, he says, 9 year old Nwanakwo died in hospital after having been "bathed with acid" by his father.
 
He wants to make sure that the new legislation that forbids the stigmatisation of children as witches will be enforced, and that pastors who were jailed and then released on bail, and that parents who abuse their children will be prosecuted.
 
The film's producers are planning a follow-up they hope will highlight positive efforts to protect the rights of children in Nigeria's Akwa Ibom State.
 
 
[Saving Africa's Witch Children was sold to a private company recently and can no longer be seen on You Tube. The excerpt below is from De Wereld Draait Door]

Click here to visit the CRARN website.

You can also learn more on the subject by reading this UN report