PACT Project Advocates for Children in Okobo
Prevent Abuse of Children Today (PACT) is our advocacy project, whose aim is to advocate for children, and educate communities. This is an account of recent PACT work in Okobo, Akwa Ibom State.
Mbokpo Oduobo is one of the communities in Okobo where child witchcraft branding is very rife. The reality for children living there can therefore, be frightening. At any moment, a child could find him or herself accused of causing an illness, poisoning the food or water, or transforming into an animal that haunts the village to harm others.
To address this despicable practice, PACT decided to carry out an enlightenment campaign there, aimed at making the locals change their perception of children.
A difficult start
The tension in the room is palpable as our workers begin to talk. For some people in Mbokpo Oduobo Village, belief in witchcraft -and specifically that children can be witches - is central to their everyday culture.
It’s never easy to address a crowd of people about a belief they hold and this day was no exception. Our team had a difficult task ahead: to grab the attention of the people in attendance and try to persuade them that child witchcraft accusation practices must stop.
Every part of the village community was represented, including the Village Head together with his traditional rulers council. Other community leaders; pastors, women leaders, youth leaders, market leaders and head teachers were also present.
Our team presented information about the negative impacts of witchcraft accusations on children. They also spoke to the community about the Akwa Ibom State Child's Rights Act on witchcraft branding, which states that merely calling a child a witch would attract a-10-year prison sentence, or a fine of N500,000 fine, or even a combination of both, in extreme cases.
We played the movie Edikan to expose the role of false prophets and pastors. In Edikan, a famous actress uses her influence and power to campaign against the labeling of children as child witches, after discovering that her own sister disowned her daughter on account of her being labelled a witch by a pastor. Sadly, this is an all too common occurrence in communities such as this.
We heard the views of the Village Head and other members of the community. It’s evident that even with the new knowledge about the harm of these practices and the law, the people, apart from the Village Head, were still adamant, stressing that these children confess to witchcraft without being forced.
The need to expand this work is clear especially as this, according to one of the speakers, was the first such visit they have had in over 15 years. We must gather resources to make the visits more regular.
The Village Head supports our mission to ensure that in time, no child in Mbokpo Oduobo will have to suffer because of witchcraft accusations. With his support, we believe that regular advocacy will soften their position and make the village a safer place to grow up.
Our plans are to return regularly - hopefully, several times per year - to Mbokpo Oduobo, and we will be asking our donors and funders to help us make this additional effort possible. If you, or someone you know can help, please DONATE to ensure we can reach more villages, and especially, the children who live there.
Safe Child Africa thanks all our supporters and donors who make this work possible.
Ends
Other References:
Safe Child Africa https://www.safechildafrica.org/pact-2024