A project done for an anthropology class focusing on the witch children of Nigeria.

1. The Witch Children
of Nigeria
and Helen Ukpabio
Black and white issue of human rights, or ethnocentrism?

2. In Nigeria the hunt for witch children is on. In order to
protect themselves from the devil, parents are
abandoning, torturing, and even murdering their
children while trying to exorcise their demons. In the
last decade 15,000 children have been accused of
witchcraft and 1,000 of them have been murdered . 1

3. Several methods of exorcism include beating children, setting
them on fire, burying them alive, and pouring acid down their
throats. one woman even tried to saw off the top of her
daughter's skull1.
http://takeovercontrol.wordpress.com/category/ancientafricanreligion/witchcraft-child-abuse/

4. The woman credited with leading
this movement is a Pentecostal
preacher named Helen Ukpabio.
She preaches about the dangers
of witch children, how to identify
them, and how to exorcise them.
Thousands attend her
meetings, including famous
Nollywood actors and politicians2.
She has made many videos on the
subject, her most famous being
End of The Wicked3.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/05/22/
world/22beliefs-cnd/22beliefs-cnd-articleLarge.jpg

5. In her book Unveiling the
Mysteries
Of Witchcraft, Helen Ukpabio
identifies some ways to identify
witch children. Some of these
signs
are a child under two crying out
in the night, or a child being
frequently sick or feverish2.
Because
of her writings, films, and
influence she has been labeled
as the head of the witch
hunt, and international outcry has
been focused mostly at her.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oRIVhuoSpJU/SxfIUZjBd
9I/AAAAAAAAAKo/xOTr54TTNa8/s320/Unveiling-

6. http://www.positivepins.com/big/aabuse22.jp
g
http://naij
anedu.co
m/wp-
content/u
ploads/2
011/06/wi
tch-
children1
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In the West there are organizations devoted to protecting children; the
government views them as helpless and innocent. if an infant is crying it is
deemed normal behavior, and the idea of burying a crying baby alive is
something that makes most Westerners cringe. Western culture in general does
not accept the idea of witchcraft or possession, But Does this mean Helen
Ukpabio deserves such hostility from outsiders?

7. Helen Ukpabio has said that while witches are real, the movie she
made was fictionalized and denies responsibility for the harm to
children entirely1. She also believes the protests against her in the
West are due to racism. She asks if we think Harry Potter is real, and
says that the only reason Westerners view her differently than J.K.
Rowling is because she is African2.

8. Is Helen Ukpabio right, are Western opinions of her
colored by views of Africa? While the harm being done
to these children is a civil rights issue, is our initial
reaction to these events fair? Do Western feelings of
anger and superiority stem from a higher moral
ground, because we are "right", or from our own bias
and culture? When most Westerners have no idea
what it would be like to raise children in Nigeria, is it
fair to say "that would never happen here"? Is it
acceptable to blame and hate an African preacher for
child abuse because she wrote about and made
movies depicting child witches while J.K.
Rowling, author of Harry Potter, is celebrated and
richer than the Queen of England ? Is it justified anger
4
or just ethnocentrism?

9. Citations
1Katharine Houreld, "African Children Denounced As 'Witches'
By Christian Pastors", Huffington Post 18 Oct. 2009
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/18/african-children-
denounce_n_324943.html
2Mark Oppenheimer, "On a Visit to the U.S., a Nigerian Witch
Hunter Explains Herself", NY Times 21 May 2010 http://
www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/us/22beliefs.html
3Occult Profiles: Helen Ukpabio, the "Witch" Hunter of Children
23 Nov. 2011 http://parasearcher.blogspot.com/2011/11/
occult-profiles-helen-ukpabio-child.html
4"JK Rowling 'Richer than Queen' ", BBC News 27 April 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2979033.stm