Orphans in Africa treated as witches

[strngrnrth]

On another thread, I mentioned that orphans are sometimes treated as witches, and denied care, in Africa. In response to a request for links, I found a couple. Here’s one and here’s the other.
The children are beaten, starved and tortured, sometimes to death, because the adults, often on the advice of a traditional “healer”, think that is how to get rid of the “curse” that caused the parents’ death. With the increase in AIDS in Africa, many people are desperate for a sense of control over all the deaths andd they latch on to any explanation.
One cause of the AIDS pandemic in Africa is that the traditional “healers” (shamans, or witch doctors) urge infected men to rape children, in order to cure themselves. Polygamy is another. Also, the poverty drives girls, boys and women into prostitution.
What can be done?

 

[KarenNC]

What can be done?

One obvious starting point is culturally appropriate education on the actual causes and methods of transmission of sexually transmitted diseases as well as treatment, along with making methods of protection (ie condoms) and treatment as available as possible. Educating women and men on ways to help regulate their family size if they wish, both to help with poverty and protect the health of the women and children is another avenue.
populationaction.org/Publications/Fact_Sheets/FS2/Summary.shtml

Efforts such as Heifer Project and projects making microloans, particularly to women, can help alleviate the poverty. Not just handouts, but assistance and training to help the people sustainably farm, or in some other fashion care for themselves.

barcelona2004.org/eng/banco_del_conocimiento/documentos/ficha.cfm?IdDoc=1445

heifer.org.za/

In many areas foreign aid runs into the problem of corrupt officials that block efforts to get the aid to the people that need it.

 

[BelFarfalla]

On another thread, I mentioned that orphans are sometimes treated as witches, and denied care, in Africa. In response to a request for links, I found a couple. Here’s one and here’s the other.
The children are beaten, starved and tortured, sometimes to death, because the adults, often on the advice of a traditional “healer”, think that is how to get rid of the “curse” that caused the parents’ death. With the increase in AIDS in Africa, many people are desperate for a sense of control over all the deaths andd they latch on to any explanation.
One cause of the AIDS pandemic in Africa is that the traditional “healers” (shamans, or witch doctors) urge infected men to rape children, in order to cure themselves. Polygamy is another. Also, the poverty drives girls, boys and women into prostitution.
What can be done?

Remove the children from this hell hole… but there must be thousands of them. Perhaps faith based organizations can set up orphanges, protect the children from the mentally off who are their elders.

 

[BelFarfalla]

double post