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Ghana Government Looking at Ways to Reintegrate the Nation’s ‘Witches’

Accra — Ghana’s government is looking at ways to support people accused of witchcraft – mainly women and children banished by their communities to “witches’ camps” in the north – and to reintegrate them in their home villages.

Currently around 1,000 women and 700 children are living in six camps in northern Ghana, where they have found refuge from threats and violence from people in their home communities after being labeled witches and blamed for causing misfortune to others. In most cases the residents were taken to the camps by family members. A small number of men are also banished to the camps as “wizards”, according to Hajia Hawawu Boya Gariba, Ghana’s deputy minister for women and children’s affairs.

Belief in witchcraft is widespread in Africa – and other parts of the world – but in sub-Saharan Africa accusations against children are a recent and growing phenomena, according to a UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report released last year.

The camps are located in remote areas and the residents usually live in basic conditions in mud huts without electricity, with limited access to food, water or medicine. Local reports detail women going hungry, residents having to walk kilometres to collect water, and children being unable to attend school. The camps are run by managers – usually the people who founded them – who rely on funding from NGOs and private donations to operate the facilities. Sometimes camp managers also take payment such as food from residents.

While the issue of “witches’ camps” is nothing new – they have been around for decades – recent media reports have spurred the government to action. “As a government we are embarrassed that we have these camps in our country – especially as our human rights record will be scrutinized as far as this is concerned,” Gariba said.

Stigma

A meeting of government officials, accused women from the camps, camp managers, NGOs and doctors in Accra on 8 September considered what action should be taken to improve the situation for camp residents. Gariba said the government was working with the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) to improve conditions in the camps by providing food and other support to the inmates, then in the long-term the government would look at repatriating the residents to their home villages and shutting down the camps.

This will include educating communities back home so they understand the banished women are not actually witches, said Gariba, who has also suggested drafting legislation to make it illegal to accuse people of witchcraft.

Akwasi Osei, the chief psychiatrist in Ghana’s national health service, who helped initiate the meeting, emphasized the need for community education. “Right now if you [repatriate accused witches] you can be sure they will be lynched when they go back home,” he said. “You have to prepare [their] society and help them understand that it’s not these women who were the causes of [misfortune].”

A second meeting later this month will firm up a plan of action to eventually disband the camps, Gariba said.

Reluctant to leave

Not everyone thinks trying to close the camps is a good idea. Bilabim Jakper, 60, has lived in the Nabuli “witches’ camp”, Gushegu District, northern Ghana, for the past nine years and says she wants to stay put.

Her husband died 15 years ago, and after that her former husband’s younger brother accused her of witchcraft. “He told family members I attempted to kill him spiritually in the night … Later the whole village heard about the incident and concluded I was a witch. They beat me up and threatened to kill me.”

She escaped and eventually found her way to Nabuli. She said she does not believe her original community would accept her back. “They say I am a bad omen to my family. Here is my home … The people here are my friends and relatives now.”

Alhassan Sayibu, who has managed the Nyani “witches’ camp” in northern Ghana for 10 years since taking over from his father, said the risk of violence against so-called witches and wizards in their original communities was too high and the camps should not be closed.

“If something bad happens they [could] be accused [again]. Three months ago [people in one community] broke someone’s hand after she was sent back there and she was brought back here again. Even men are beaten and returned here,” Syibu said.

Gariba suggested if some inmates were still unable to return after their original communities were educated, the camps could be redeveloped into care centres.

Who are the accused?

Chief psychiatrist Osei said women accused of witchcraft are generally mentally ill – suffering depression, dementia or schizophrenia. Women were also usually easy targets when people were looking for a scapegoat, he said. “Very often [accused witches are] vulnerable women who are probably widowed or childless … or are poor and illiterate,” he said.

Emmanuel Dobson, executive director of Christian Outreach Fellowship, an NGO providing food, medicine and accommodation to people in the witches’ camps, agreed that mainly older, uneducated women were targeted. He also pointed to the patriarchal culture in northern Ghana as a factor in their vulnerability. “When a man marries a woman she becomes his property. The woman’s family then has less authority over the life of the woman, and the woman is left helpless [if] her husband is not able to advocate for her.”

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Copyright © 2011 UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
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Sexual Health in Africa: Study Shows Dominant Women Have Less Sex

Empowered women in control of household decisions could be losing out on sex, says a new study out of Johns Hopkins University.

Published in the Journal of Sex in October, the researchers asked women about the last date of sexual intercourse as well as who had the final say on decisions ranging from healthcare to household purchases.

According to the Telegraph, the researchers surveyed women from six African countries who reported the more decisions made, the less physical intimacy they shared with their partners.

“The more decisions a woman reported making on her own, as compared to through joint decision-making, the less likely she was to have sex and the longer it was since she last had sexual intercourse,” said lead researcher Michelle Hindin.

The findings showed more dominant and assertive women had approximately 100 times less sex.

But the researchers also noted that this isn’t necessarily incidental for them — it could also be women taking control of their sexual preferences, the Daily Mail reported.

“Understanding how women’s position in the household influences their sexual activity may be an essential piece in protecting the sexual rights of women and helping them to achieve a sexual life that is both safe and pleasurable,” co-author Carie Muntifering told Health24.com.

The location of the women studied may also have played a role, though. Most recently, a study by Florida State University’s Roy Baumeister argued that more equality would lead to more sex. He pointed to a study surveying over 300,000 people from 37 countries which found that countries with a higher gender equality had more casual sex and more sexual partners. In nations with less equality between the sexes, the opposite was true.

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‘Bad Romance’ Hurts Online Singles

More than 200,000 people in the UK may have fallen victim to criminals who woo them online to steal their money.

The first formal study of so-called romance scams found that they were far more common than previously thought.

Among those surveyed by researchers at the University of Leicester, one in 50 knew someone who had been a victim.

Perpetrators typically set up a fake profile, pretend to enter into an online relationship then ask for cash to help with financial problems.

Police advice to the public is never to give money to anyone that they have only met over the internet.

The Leicester University team found that more than half (52%) of the 2,000 people surveyed for the study had heard of the scam with 2% personally knowing someone who had been targeted.

Double hit

Action Fraud, the national fraud reporting and advice centre run by the National Fraud Authority, identified 592 victims between 2010 and 2011.

However, the researchers believe that many more probably go unreported.

“It may well be that the shame and upset experienced by the victims deters them,” said Prof Monica Whitty.

She explained that the psychological impact could be huge and suggested that new methods of reporting the crime were needed.

“It is our view that the trauma caused by this scam is worse than any other, because of the ‘double hit’ experienced by the victims – loss of monies and a ‘romantic relationship’,” said Prof Whitty.

Grooming

The criminals who carry out romance scams typically use online dating sites or social networks to identify targets and devote time and effort to “grooming” them, according to the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca).

It said that most will attempt to move the relationship away from monitored online places before defrauding people.

Soca view romance fraud as organised crime, usually operated from outside the UK.

“The perpetrators spend long periods of time grooming their victims, working out their vulnerabilities, and when the time is right… ask for money,” said Soca’s senior manager for fraud Colin Woodcock.

Investigations by Soca have found that people can give the criminals anything between £50 to £240,000.

In some cases, when they fail to get money out of victims, the criminals ask them to accept money into their account as part of a wider money laundering operation, said Mr Woodcock.

“It is crucial that nobody sends money to someone they meet online, and haven’t got to know well and in person,” he added.

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World Population Expected To Hit 7 Billion On Halloween

You should expect more than ghosts, spirits and candy when Halloween arrives this year. On October 31, 2011, the world will welcome its seven billionth person, according to the United Nations Population Fund.

Reaching such a large global population would have fascinated 19th century theorist Thomas Malthus. According to the Financial Times, Malthus argued — at a time when the world’s population was under 1 billion — the birth rate had to be lowered to prevent the famine and violence that would come with overpopulation.

Human ingenuity and technology have played a big part in defying Malthus, but there’s no doubt the population explosion has taken a toll on the earth’s resources. As Treehugger reported, the population spike since the 18th century has contributed a whole slew of environmental issues, including soil erosion and dwindling wild fish populations.

The Center for Biological Diversity has launched an advocacy campaign pegged to the 7 billion mark to highlight overpopulation and its impact on endangered plants and animals. As part of the “7 Billion and Counting” campaign, the center is giving out 100,000 endangered species condoms to a network of 1,200 volunteer distributors in all 50 states.

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Remains of Earliest Human Ancestor Found in South Africa

Remains of human ancestor in South Africa dated at almost two million years

THE remains of what may be our earliest human ancestor have been dated at almost two million years old and may unlock some of the mysteries of human evolution.

The skull of Australopithecus sediba may unlock secrets to human evolution

Expert analysis of the hands, feet, skull and pelvis, published today in the journal Science, offers “unprecedented” access to our family history, and the remains bear striking similarities to both ancient apes and members of our own species, homo sapiens.

The remains of two individuals, a child and a young woman, come from a cave in South Africa.

Human evolution professor Lee Berger, from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, made the original discovery in August 2008.

Last year he introduced the world to a new species, Australopithecus sediba or “southern ape, wellspring”.

The “really extraordinary material” has now been dated at 1.977 million years old, and the results can be shared with the rest of world.

“We have the most complete hand from one individual, from any species of early human ancestor ever discovered and it’s a lot like ours, with its shortened fingers and its long thumb,” Professor Berger said.

“We’re getting a vision into the moment where our grip, the thing that makes us so unique, that allows us to play piano, to paint a picture, type on a computer, make a stone tool or shake hands, evolved.

“It’s amazing to see that, particularly on the end of an arm that’s like an ape.”

He said the species also had a “surprisingly advanced but small brain” (420 cubic centimetres) and a very modern pelvis, but the foot and ankle shape combined features of both apes and humans in the one anatomical package.

The many advanced features, and its age make it “possibly the best candidate ancestor for our genus, the genus homo, more so than previous discoveries such as Homo habilis”.

At the University of Melbourne, Dr Robyn Pickering performed uranium lead dating of the flowstone above and below the bones, while colleagues at La Trobe University conducted a palaeomagnetic analysis of sediments surrounding the fossils.

“Knowing the age of the fossils is critical to placing them in our family tree,” Dr Pickering said.

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Famine In Africa: Bono, Anderson Cooper, K’naan Call For Famine Solution (VIDEO)

CNN’s Anderson Cooper engaged Bono and Somali singer K’naan in a forthright and passionate conversation this past week about the need for aid in Somalia.

Bono, whose foundation ONE tackles health and agriculture issues, says the world needs to find long-term famine solutions. In his conversation with CNN, he said it’s time to take a cue from past famines in Africa and develop advanced agriculture programs with better seeds and fertilizers.

“As to the long-term stuff, we know exactly what to do with droughts,” Bono said. “You can blame droughts on God, but famines are man-made. We know exactly what to do, and this shouldn’t be happening.”

Bono also called on the Security Council to help ease access, including providing more troops to allow safer passage of food and supplies.

K’naan told CNN that the world needs to drop its negative stereotype of Somalia, born out of reports of piracy and past famines.

“People have created a psychological fence around their hearts when Somalia is concerned,” K’naan said. “We have to find a way to get past that.”

Cooper described his time at area hospitals, having spent time with a family who had lost their third child. He lamented that the hospitals lack enough medicine and basic supplies and said the gravity of the famine doesn’t seem to have hit people.

“You hear 600,000 children are at risk of starvation,” Cooper said. “And those numbers — they’re so big they almost don’t seem real. And we start to think this is just a normal thing. But I feel like this should be a headline on every paper on every newscast every day while this is going on. 600,000 at risk of starvation — on the brink of starvation — is a catastrophe.”

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In Africa, Clinton will See a Continent Starved for Aid, Change

Hillary Clinton

(CNN) — Hillary Clinton’s weeklong trip to sub-Saharan Africa takes her to a continent hungry for economic growth and political accountability but still shackled by poverty and government corruption.

The U.S. secretary of state will see the effects of that poverty close-up:

— In Tanzania, she’ll meet with women who are victims of gender-based violence.

— In Ethiopia, she’ll visit a hospital where women are suffering from fistula, their internal organs scarred. They’ve been abandoned by their husbands and ostracized by their communities.

She also will see initiatives designed to improve Africans’ lives, such as programs providing mothers and children with nutritional food for the critical 1,000-day period from the start of a woman’s pregnancy until her child’s second birthday.

At her first stop Friday in Lusaka, Zambia, Clinton will speak to the 2011 U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, the centerpiece of the United States government’s trade policy with sub-Saharan Africa. It gives trade preferences to countries of the region that meet criteria on economic, legal and human rights issues.

Eligible countries can export nearly 6,500 products — including apparel, automobiles, footwear and fruit — duty-free to the U.S.

At the forum, government officials, business leaders and civil activists from African countries and the United States will discuss trade, business and investment opportunities in Africa. Clinton will meet with participants in the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program, an outreach, education and engagement initiative that aims to give African women entrepreneurs the tools to fight for change in their communities.

“People in Africa are very hopeful,” says Melvin Ayogu, fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Africa Growth Initiative, but when they look at their governments “they often see the politics of impoverishing people to stay in power.”

In Zambia, Tanzania and Ethiopia, Clinton will meet with government officials, stressing U.S. goals of fostering good governance and protection of human rights.

In strategically located Zambia, Clinton will meet with President Rupiah Bwezani Banda, but she also will confer with opposition presidential candidates Michael Sata and Hakainde Hichilema.

In Tanzania, she heads for the State House and a meeting with President Jakaya Kikwete then flies to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for a speech to the African Union.

One of her last events on her trip will highlight a priority issue for Clinton: cookstoves. As the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves notes, cooking is one of the most dangerous activities for a woman in many developing countries.

Nearly three billion people use traditional cookstoves that burn wood and create smoke that causes almost 2 million premature deaths annually — more than twice the number from malaria, according to the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. Breathing in toxic fumes, women and children develop pneumonia, emphysema, cataracts, lung cancer and other illnesses.

At a Peace Corps building in Addis Ababa, Clinton will meet with local women who make money selling new, clean cookstoves.

“The next time you sit down with your own family to eat, please take a moment to imagine the smell of smoke, feel it in your lungs, see the soot building up on the walls,” Clinton said in September of 2010. New, clean cookstoves, she said, can save millions of lives.

“The benefits from this initiative,” she said, “will be cleaner and safer homes, and that will, in turn, ripple out for healthier families, stronger communities, and more stable societies.”

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