Hope boy now. "Nigerian boy" who is lucky - in Africa, thousands of children die because of accusations of witchcraft. A homeless Thai man received a house and a job in gratitude for his honest deed

A heartbreaking photograph from Nigeria showing a philanthropist giving water to an emaciated little boy has gone viral. This photo is now

became known as the "Nigerian boy" and was reprinted by many top media outlets.

Anja Ringgen Lowen has been living in Africa with her family for over 3 years and is the founder of the African Children's Education and Development Assistance Fund to savejust such children. Recently, Anya and her husband started building their own orphanage for rescued children.

The whole world watched how the boy's condition stabilized, how he gradually recovered. After the publication of the photograph of the "Nigerian boy"philanthropists from all over the world donated more than a million dollars to the shelter.

To date, the child feels much better, he is cheerful and smiling, has grown a lot and willingly plays with other children. Besides, ina new stage began in his life - he went to school. On January 30, 2017, Anja Ringgren Loven posted a new photo with the same subject. In the photo shephotographed with Hope. He is dressed in smart clothes, on his back is a school bag. Lowen believes the boy has a bright future ahead of him.

Unfortunately, a favorable turn in his fate is a rare stroke of luck. Anja Ringgren Laven says the following: “Thousands of children are condemned to starvationdeath because their families recognized them as “witches and witchers”. We saw countless children's corpses, many children writhing in agony."

In order to be accused of witchcraft, the illness or death of one of the family members or neighbors is enough. Even HIV, according to local superstition,It is not transmitted sexually, but is the result of the evil eye.

According to the UN, tens of thousands of children are accused of witchcraft in Africa. Local beliefs here bizarrely crossed with Protestantism and Christianthe shepherds became the conductors of the wildest superstitions. They take money for exorcism sessions - exorcism of evil spirits. During this procedure, children are washedstarved, beaten, filled with gasoline in the eyes and ears to "weaken the devil." They even tried to give one unfortunate child ... acid.

Thanks to African communities, such terrible things are happening in Europe, according to the EU. In London alone, more than 80cases of child abuse accused of witchcraft. In African stores in Europe, you can buy videos of exorcism sessions. They aresold all over the world and "shepherds" earn millions on them.

An even worse fate awaits albino children. In Africa, the killing of albinos has become an industry based on macabre superstitions. They themselves are not considered sorcerers, but are considered as a kind of "raw material" for witchcraft. Shamans inspired people that the legs, genitals, eyes and hair of albinos bestow special strength and health. Ju-ju amulets, made with an admixture of albino ashes, are supposedly able to bring good luck to the house, help in a successful hunt, and achieve the location of a woman. Amulets from the genitals are in particular demand. They are believed to cure all diseases. Even bones are used, which are ground, and then, mixed with various herbs, they are used in the form of decoctions. This allegedly gives healing decoctions a special mystical power.

Anja Ringngren Loven, a Danish humanitarian fund worker, and her husband rescued a boy abandoned by his parents in Nigeria a year ago. A sick, malnourished child fell from his feet from hunger, wandered alone through the streets for eight months. The volunteers named him Hope (from the English. Hope - Hope).

The parents accused the boy of witchcraft and threw him out into the street.

"I decided to name him Hope, because now we all really hope that he will survive. He was in the village, naked, alone and dying," Loven wrote two days after the boy was rescued.

Every year, the number of abandoned children in Nigeria increases: parents kick out the kids and leave them to their fate, considering them to be sorcerers. Loven posted a photo of herself giving water to little Hope to draw attention to this serious problem and raise funds for the boy's treatment and rehabilitation. The picture was shared on social networks, and Hope's story quickly spread around the world. Now more than a year has passed since the first photo, and the 3-year-old boy is unrecognizable.

"Today is exactly one year since the world found out about a little boy named Hope. This week Hope will go to school. As you can see, Hope is growing fast. He is a cute, healthy and very joyful baby," Anya wrote on her Facebook page on January 30.

In the new image, a much plumper Hope, wearing a red sweater, white sneakers and a black backpack, is drinking water from a bottle, just like he did a year ago. The healthy appearance of the boy turned out to be a pleasant surprise for those who learned his story.

Hope now lives with 35 other children in an orphanage run by Anya Lowen and her husband David Emmanuel Umem in Eket, Nigeria. Dozens of other kids, like Hope, who have been kicked out on the street by their own parents, are being helped here. In 2009, fighters against the cruel tradition reported that in 10 years in two of Nigeria's 36 provinces, about 15,000 children were accused of witchcraft and about a thousand were killed.

Eket, Nigeria. A nine-year-old boy lay on a blood-stained hospital sheet, on which ants crawled, staring at the wall with invisible eyes.

The pastor of the church where his family goes accused the child of witchcraft, and his father, in order to "cast out the demon", tried to force his son to drink acid. The boy resisted, and the liquid did not enter his throat, but burned his face and eyes. All he could say was the name of the church that accused him - "Mount Zion Lighthouse". The boy died a month later.

Nwanaokwo Edet is one of a growing number of African children accused of witchcraft by pastors and then tortured or killed, often by members of their own families. Half of the 200 child witch cases the AP studied involved pastors from 13 churches. Some of these communities belong to international Christian churches.

"It's outrageous what they're doing in the name of Christianity," says Gary Foxcroft, head of the charity Stepping Stones Nigeria.

The families of "little sorcerers" are usually very poor, and for many of them the loss of one hungry mouth is only a relief. Poverty, bloody conflicts and poor education are the basis for accusations against children. The reason for them may be the death of a relative, the loss of a job, and often - the instructions of the pastor, says UN Children's Fund spokesman Martin Dowes. “They are looking for scapegoats for defenseless children,” he explains. According to traditional African beliefs, some person is to blame for all troubles - an evil sorcerer or witch.

The belief in witches is far from new, but it has recently experienced a resurgence in Africa, in large part due to the rapid growth of evangelical Christian communities. According to activists, in just two of Nigeria's 36 states, 15,000 children have been accused of witchcraft in the past 10 years, of which approximately 1,000 have been killed. In the past month alone, three Nigerian children have been killed and three more have been set on fire. According to the UN, this is also happening in other countries of Africa - tens of thousands of children on the continent become victims of the "witch hunt".

At every turn in the jungle road from Uyo, the state capital of Akwa Ibom to Eket, there are signs calling for church. There are more churches in the region than schools, clinics and banks combined. Many communities promise believers to solve not only spiritual but also material problems - 80% of Nigerians live on less than $2 a day.

"Poverty must be burned!" promises a sign for a church in Uyo. "Prayer will show you the way to wealth," shouts the sign of the Christ's Embassy Church next door. With such competition, it is difficult for churches to attract large parishioners, and some pastors maintain their authority and popularity by accusing children of witchcraft.

Nwanaokwo gave the name of the preacher who accused him - the boy knew him as "Pastor King". At first, Mount Zion Lighthouse Church confirmed that a person with that surname served in it, and then stated that she did not know him.

Bishop Ayakndue, leader of this church in Nigeria, says pastors should pray for deliverance from witches but not attack children. “We are praying intensely over this issue,” the bishop says. “But we will never harm a child.”

The Nigerian community of "Lighthouse" is a branch of the church located in California. But California Christians say they lost contact with the Nigerian branch years ago. “I had no idea,” says California community elder Kerry King. “I knew they believed in witchcraft there, but we believe in the power of prayer, not in physical violence against people.”

Mount Zion Lighthouse Church has been cited by three other families as the source of accusations against their children. She is a member of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria. The organization's president, Ayo Oricejafor, claims it is the fastest growing religious group in the country, with over 30 million believers. “We have grown so much over the past few years that we cannot keep track of everyone,” the pastor explains.

But Foxcroft believes that if the Brotherhood has the ability to collect membership dues from churches, it can also ensure that pastors do not attack children. He wrote to the organization twice, urging them to denounce child abuse and tell pastors about a new child rights law that makes it a crime to accuse children of witchcraft.

Sam Itauma, an activist with the Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network, says that the victims are the most vulnerable - sick children, orphans, the disabled or children from the poorest families. Nwanaokwo was a very convenient target for the pastor - his father is very poor and his mother has died.

Ithauma says that churches that have not previously engaged in "witch-hunting" are being drawn into it to keep up with the competition. “Because they can identify a sorcerer or a witch, they are considered spiritually strong. Parents can even pay the pastor money for the exorcism,” the activist testifies.

So did Margaret Eyekang: a "prophet" from the Apostolic Church called her eight-year-old daughter Abigail a witch because the girl liked to sleep outside on hot nights. According to the "prophet", Abigail flew to the Sabbath at night. The “casting out of the evil spirit” from the girl took place in several sessions and cost the mother $ 270 - this is her salary for eight months. Before the exorcism was completed, Abigail was attacked by neighbors who tried to beat the girl with sticks. Fearing persecution, Margaret temporarily settled with relatives - they allowed the woman to spend the night in the house, but her daughter was left to sleep in the yard.

Two more parishioners of the "Apostolic Church" said that the pastors accused their children of witchcraft. These witnesses refused to give their names, as they are afraid of retribution. Church officials declined to comment.

At first glance, there is nothing unusual about children laughing, playing hopscotch or reading fairy tales near graffiti-covered walls of the house. But this is where children who are accused by pastors of witchcraft, abandoned by their parents or subjected to torture end up.

Jane's smiling face bears a terrible scar: her mother tried to saw her head open after several $60 exorcisms failed to "cure" the girl. 15-year-old Mary thinks about how the boys will look at the scars that cover her face - her mother dipped her in a solution of caustic soda. 12-year-old Rachel dreamed of becoming a banker. By order of the pastor, she was put in chains and beaten with sticks. Her uncle paid $60 to "cast the demon" out of her niece. Relatives wanted to bury Israel alive, Nwaekwa's father drove a nail into her head, and Jerry was beaten, starved, forced to eat cement, and then his father set the boy on fire.

A shelter for such children was opened by Itauma's organization. All of them are victims of regular violence, and local police officials asked not to publish the names for the safety of the children themselves. When the orphanage opened in 2003, there were seven children. Now at the same time from 120 to 200 children find shelter here - some return to their families, new ones arrive.

Helen Ukpabio is one of the evangelical leaders who publicly fight against witchcraft. She leads a large Gospel Liberty congregation in Calabar, where Nwanaokwo used to live. Ukpabio publishes and distributes popular pamphlets and films about sorcerers. In one of her films, a group of "sorcerer children" take out a person's eyes from the eye sockets. In one of her books, a woman claims that black magic is the cause of 60% of cases of infertility.

Ukpabio agreed to be interviewed by AP in the presence of her lawyer, parishioners and her film crew. “Witchcraft is a reality,” the woman says. At the same time, she denounces child abuse and claims that her "exorcism" methods are non-violent and free, and that she is not responsible for other pastors misinterpreting her films and books: "I don't know anything about it."

However, she admits that she saw how the pastor of the "Apostolic Church" during the exorcism session broke the girl's jaw. Ukpabio states that she prayed for the girl and cast the demon out of her, but does not answer the question of why she did not take her to the hospital and complain about the pastor.

Once, activists from a child protection organization publicly stated that children were accused of witchcraft in the Gospel of Liberty church. After that, the police raided the orphanage, as a result of which three children were injured. Itauma asked the AP correspondent not to publish the names of other churches, which were named by the children themselves. “We cannot afford to have all the local churches become our enemies, but we know that most of them are involved in violence, even without the knowledge of the leadership,” Itauma says.

It is enough to mention the name of some church to frighten a crowd of children in the yard of the orphanage.

“Please stop the pastors who are hurting us,” Jerry says softly, touching the scars on his face. "I believe in God, and God knows I'm not a sorcerer."

The whole world. A little boy who was later given a name hope(Hope), thrown out of the house by his own parents, considering him "sorcerer".

It was in a small village Nigeria(West Africa), Hope was then a little over a year old and after that he survived on the street for another 8 months only thanks to handouts from passers-by.

When the Dane saw him Anja Ringgren Lowen(Anja Ringgren Loven), who lives in Nigeria and helps abandoned children, he was completely emaciated, dirty, with sore skin and worms in his stomach.

Anya was horrified by the state of the child, she immediately began to give him water, and then took him to the hospital.

It happened on January 31, 2016. Since then, two months have passed and few people recognize in this chubby, cheerful baby that very "living skeleton" on thin legs. Anya posted on her Facebook page a new series of photos showing Hope's miraculous recovery. She says that he is now "a child enjoying life."

Hope is very fond of games and communication with other children, he has never seen such a good attitude towards himself in his life and just blossoms into a smile.

When Anya published the first photos of Hope 2 months ago, people from all over the world began to transfer money to the account of her charitable organization "DINNødhjælp - deres overlevelse" ("Your help is their survival"). Over a million dollars raised.

The funds will go towards supporting Hope and other children at the orphanage run by Anya and her husband David Emmanuel Umem in Nigeria. Girls and boys live there, who, like Hope, were kicked out of the house by their own parents. Nothing good awaited them on the street, hunger, beatings, and even certain death. Anya saw the tortured and killed children with her own eyes.

Now in a special children's center for Anya and her husband, established 3 years ago, there are 35 children of different ages from one-year-old Felix to 14-year-olds. They receive food, medical care, clothing and shelter. All older children attend school. In January, Anya's foundation also began building a large orphanage, and they also have plans to build their own clinic for the treatment of children.

By the way, the doctors managed to find the reason why Hope was probably accused of "witchcraft". During the examination, they found a defect in the penis, the so-called hypospadias, this is when the external opening of the urethra does not open at the top of the glans penis, but is displaced.

This common anomaly in boys is being treated with standard surgery, and Hope will be on her way next week.

Hope's first haircut

Rescued children from the Ani Ringgren Loven Center

A year ago, Anja Ringngren Loven, a Danish humanitarian fund worker, was in Nigeria with her husband, where she was involved in rescuing several of the thousands of young children abandoned on the street. Every year their number increases: their parents kick them out and leave them to their fate, considering them to be sorcerers. “We have seen frightened, exhausted and even dead children,” Anja, co-founder of the African Children’s Aid Education and Development Foundation (ACAEDF), wrote in a 2016 blog post.

(Total 10 photos)

It was then that she first met (Hope - "hope"). The child, who then was practically skin and bones, was abandoned to the mercy of fate by his own parents in a small village. “I decided to name him Hope because right now we are all very hopeful that he will survive,” Loven wrote two days after he was rescued. “He was in the village, naked, alone and dying.”

Loven posted a photo of herself giving water to little Hope to draw attention to this serious problem in Nigeria and raise funds for the boy's treatment and rehabilitation. The photo went viral on social media, and Hope's story quickly spread around the world. Now more than a year has passed since the first photo, and the three-year-old boy is unrecognizable.

“Today is exactly one year since the world learned about a little boy named Hope. Hope will go to school this week,” Anya wrote on her Facebook page on January 30th.

In the new image, a much plumper Hope, wearing a red sweater, white sneakers and a black backpack, is drinking water from a bottle, just like he did a year ago. The healthy appearance of the boy turned out to be a pleasant surprise for those who learned his story a year ago, and a positive response on social networks was not long in coming.

Hope lives with 35 other children in an orphanage run by Anya Lowen and her husband David Emmanuel Umem in Eket, Nigeria. Dozens of other kids, like Hope, who have been kicked out on the street by their own parents, are being helped here. In 2009, anti-traditionalists reported that over a decade in two of Nigeria's 36 provinces, about 15,000 children were accused of witchcraft and about a thousand were killed.

Thanks to the thousands of people around the world who donated to the ACAEDF, on Hope's behalf, Anya Loven was able to participate in the opening of a clinic that helps many other children accused of witchcraft. The organization also purchased a piece of land, which they called "Land of Hope". A new orphanage will be built here to protect abandoned boys and girls. Loven says Hope is proof that these kids' lives can be changed.

“As you can see, Hope is growing fast. This is a cute, healthy and very happy baby - all thanks to the incredible love and care that he receives every day from our employees and all the children, - says Anya. “Where there is love, there is hope.”