In Ghana’s witch camps, the accused are never safe - latimes.com
►http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-ghana-witch-camps-20120909,0,1098113.story
If the chicken falls with its head down and its feet in the air, the woman is declared a witch and she must spend the rest of her days in the squalor of the camp, abandoned by her family, with just one unfortunate young relation sent by her family to care for her until she dies.
And if the chicken collapses feet down and she’s declared innocent of witchcraft? She still must spend her remaining years in the camp, just in case some villagers don’t believe in her innocence.
“They’re not safe when they return,” said Adwoa Kwateng-Kluvitse, Ghana director for international aid organization Action Aid, which is working to educate northern Ghanaian communities on the rights of the accused in an effort to end witchcraft accusations.
“Even if the ritual says she’s innocent, there will be members of the community who will feel unsafe.”
Northern Ghana has six witch camps that have been in existence for more than 100 years, accommodating 800 accused witches — almost all of them women — and 500 relatives sent by families to take care of them.