A spirit child in Ghana is a disabled child who is believed to possess magical powers to cause misfortune.[1] Disability in Ghana is greatly stigmatized and the only way considered acceptable to deal with the problem is to kill them via advice by a witchdoctor.[2] Spirit children are referred to as chichuru or kinkiriko in the Kassena-Nankana district in Northern Ghana.[3] These children primarily come from poor, rural areas.[4] However, if a spirit child is known to be "good" there are no punishments for the child or their family.[3]

Similar practices are also occurring in other places in sub-Saharan Africa.[5] Similar practices include "witch babies in Benin, snake children in Mali and the Ivory Coast, spirit children in Guinea-Bissau, and mingi children in Tanzania".[5]

Causes

Physical characteristics

Birth abnormalities that spirit children exhibit are large or small heads, spina bifida, premature teeth and broken limbs.[6] The cause of a spirit child may also be from crop failure or the death of a livestock.[7] Intentional killing of a totem animal can also cause the spirit of the animal to jump into the human being.[8]

Disabilities and illnesses

Spirit children often have disabilities or chronic illnesses.[7] If the mother is sick during pregnancy, the child may also perceived to be a spirit child. If a child refuses to eat, they may also be a spirit child.[6] This "refusal to thrive" indicates that the child may be a spirit masquerading as a child.[6] Families fear their child as there is little information about the truths of the practice.[5] Families also believe that once a spirit child is born they will destroy the family's home.[7]

Attracting spirits

It is believed that women can attract a spirit if they walk while they eat.[8] These spirits are attracted to human food and will enter the woman's womb, impregnating them.[8] Actions that attract spirits include "using unapproved entrances and exits to a house, washing another woman's calabashes at the riverside, and bathing at night".[8] Many people also regard series of still births to be same child returning.[3] When this occurs, the child is mutilated with a razor blade so that the same child cannot return.[3]

Community response

Members of the community describe spirit children as "impulsive, wise, crafty, and mischievous."[7] Community members also note that the spirit children often have malnutrition.[7] Among all ethnic groups, women are more likely than men to have witchcraft beliefs.[4]

Treating spirit children

Religious beliefs

Strong religious beliefs encourage these practices.[9] It is believed that these children do not deserve a place among humans.[10] Sentiments of infant alterity explain the cultural psychodynamics of parents killing their children.[11] The actions taken to kill the spirit is based on religious beliefs.[9]

Preparing the concoction

Spirit children are treated by concoction men.[7] The family seeks out a concoction man to treat the spirit child with a dongo.[7] The men prepare a tea or herbal infusion, as known as a "bunbunlia".[7] Inside of the dongo, there is "black medicine" that the men add to tea.[7] The black medicine is composed of a burnt or charred herbs that are mixed with shea butter.[7]

Administering the concoction

An elder woman in the child's family typically administers the concoction rather than the concoction man.[5] Following the death of the child, "the concoction man wraps it in an old sleeping mat, disposes of the body in the bush, and conducts a ceremony to ensure that it does not return to torment the family".[5] The concoction sends the spirit back to the bush[6] since the spirit children were believed to be spirit bushes impersonating humans.[6] The bush is an undomesticated forest space.[12] Other sources say that the disabled children return to the world of their ancestors.[10] Abuse of these disabled children include social, capital, physical and emotional abuse.[10]

Government response

Birth registration

The practice was criminalized in Ghana in 2013, yet is still widely practiced due to the lack of birth registration.[13] Deaths are often not recorded, so the occurrence of murdering spirit children is unable to be known.[3] One study suggests that between 22 and 27% of infant mortalities are attributed to spirit children practices.[4] A study conducted by the University of Alberta Ethics Review Board and the NHRC Institutional Review Board, found that 36% of the death of spirit children are due to natural causes, including post-mortem deaths.[7] Rights of the child are not guaranteed without a birth certificate since they are not legally registered.[13]

Advancements

Ghana passed the Registration of Births and Deaths Act of 1965 requiring all births and deaths to be registered.[13] Its goal is to "provide accurate and reliable information on all births and deaths occurring within Ghana for socio-economic development of the country through their registration and certification".[13] Birth registration still remains a problem since rural areas since there are less registration offices and staff in rural areas.[14] According to information from 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, the births of 28.89% children in Ghana have never been registered.[15] This rate is the lowest among children born to young mothers, those without formal education and mothers living in rural areas.[15]

Advocacy

In 1991, Ben Okri published the book The Famished Road.[3] This book brought attention to the practice of killing spirit children.[3] In 2013, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, an undercover reporter set out to find the people responsible for the practices.[16] Christianization also has helped limit the occurrence of spirit children practices.[17]

AfriKids is a child rights Non-governmental organization that has created education programs about the practice of spirit children.[18] Since 2002, AfriKids has ended the practices in 58 communities and preventing about 243 deaths.[19] Joe Asakibeem works with AfriKids.[20] Concoction men, mothers and elderly women in the child's family are given payments from AfriKids for them to stop the practice.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Anas, Anas Aremeyaw (10 January 2013). "Spirit Child". Aljazeera.com. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  2. ↑ Issues in Sociology and Social Work: Aging, Medical, and Missionary Research and Application: 2011 Edition. ScholarlyEditions. 9 January 2012. ISBN 9781464966767. Retrieved 30 May 2017 – via Google Books.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Allotey, Pascale; Reidpath, Daniel (2001-04-01). "Establishing the causes of childhood mortality in Ghana: the 'spirit child'". Social Science & Medicine. 52 (7): 1007–1012. doi:10.1016/S0277-9536(00)00207-0. ISSN 0277-9536. PMID 11266045.
  4. 1 2 3 Bayat, Mojdeh (2014-01-27). "The stories of 'snake children': killing and abuse of children with developmental disabilities in West Africa". Journal of Intellectual Disability Research. 59 (1): 1–10. doi:10.1111/jir.12118. ISSN 0964-2633. PMID 24467696.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "FAQs". AfriKids. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Anas Aremeyaw Anas (2018-06-03). "Spirit Child: Ritual Killings in Ghana". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2020-01-19.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Denham, Aaron R.; Adongo, Philip B.; Freydberg, Nicole; Hodgson, Abraham (2010-08-01). "Chasing spirits: Clarifying the spirit child phenomenon and infanticide in Northern Ghana". Social Science & Medicine. 71 (3): 608–615. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.04.022. ISSN 0277-9536. PMID 20605304.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Fordyce, Lauren; Maraesa, Amínata, eds. (2012-04-15). Risk, Reproduction, and Narratives of Experience. Vanderbilt University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv167594d. ISBN 978-0-8265-1821-7.
  9. 1 2 Gyimah, Stephen Obeng (November 2007). "What has faith got to do with it? Religion and child survival in Ghana". Journal of Biosocial Science. 39 (6): 923–937. doi:10.1017/s0021932007001927. ISSN 0021-9320. PMID 17359561. S2CID 9378727.
  10. 1 2 3 Kassah, Alexander Kwesi; Kassah, Bente Lilljan Lind; Agbota, Tete Kobla (August 2012). "Abuse of disabled children in Ghana". Disability & Society. 27 (5): 689–701. doi:10.1080/09687599.2012.673079. ISSN 0968-7599. S2CID 143902289.
  11. ↑ Denham, Aaron R. (29 January 2020). "Of House or Bush: The Cultural Psychodynamics of Infanticide in Northern Ghana". Current Anthropology. 61 (1): 77–99. doi:10.1086/706989. ISSN 0011-3204.
  12. ↑ Denham, Aaron R. (2012-04-15), "Shifting Maternal Responsibilities and the Trajectory of Blame in Northern Ghana", Risk, Reproduction, and Narratives of Experience, Vanderbilt University Press, pp. 173–190, doi:10.2307/j.ctv167594d.14, ISBN 978-0-8265-1821-7, retrieved 2020-11-16
  13. 1 2 3 4 Dake, Fidelia A. A.; Fuseini, Kamil (2018-06-13). "Registered or unregistered? Levels and differentials in registration and certification of births in Ghana". BMC International Health and Human Rights. 18 (1): 25. doi:10.1186/s12914-018-0163-5. ISSN 1472-698X. PMC 5998598. PMID 29895288.
  14. ↑ Fagernäs, Sonja; Odame, Joyce (2013-04-25). "Birth registration and access to health care: an assessment of Ghana's campaign success". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 91 (6): 459–464. doi:10.2471/blt.12.111351. ISSN 0042-9686. PMC 3777139. PMID 24052683.
  15. 1 2 Dake, Fidelia A. A.; Fuseini, Kamil (2018-06-13). "Registered or unregistered? Levels and differentials in registration and certification of births in Ghana". BMC International Health and Human Rights. 18 (1): 25. doi:10.1186/s12914-018-0163-5. ISSN 1472-698X. PMC 5998598. PMID 29895288.
  16. ↑ "Witch Killings", Witchcraft, Witches, and Violence in Ghana, Berghahn Books, pp. 208–234, doi:10.2307/j.ctt9qcswd.12, ISBN 978-1-78238-561-5, retrieved 2020-11-16
  17. ↑ Coe, Cati (2017-07-18). "Spirit Children: Illness, Poverty, and Infanticide in Northern Ghana, written by Aaron R. Denham". Journal of Religion in Africa. 47 (3–4): 439–441. doi:10.1163/15700666-12340116. ISSN 0022-4200.
  18. ↑ "The Spirit Child Phenomenon: How Ghanaian communities are ending the fear". AfriKids. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  19. ↑ "The Spirit Child Phenomenon: How Ghanaian communities are ending the fear". AfriKids. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  20. ↑ Guardian Staff (2007-12-18). "'Spirit' children of Ghana". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
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