Hope In Africa

"When we heard that the child was only two to three years old, we did not hesitate. A child that  young cannot survive a long time alone on the streets. We immediately prepared a rescue mission."
"Thousands of children are being accused of being witches and we've both seen torture of children, dead children and frightened children. This footage shows why I fight."
Danish aid worker Anja Ringgren Loven

"Thousands of children are being accused of being witches and we've both seen torture of children, dead children and frightened children." Anja Ringgren Loven

"Many social and economic pressures, including conflict, poverty, urbanization and the weakening of communities, or HIV/AIDS, seem to have contributed to the recent increase in witchcraft accusations against children."
"Child witchcraft accusations are part of a rising tide of child abuse, violence and neglect, and they are manifestations of deeper social problems affecting society."
Joachim Theis, UNICEF regional child protection adviser

According to a British documentary, in the southwestern Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom,where the abandoned, starving toddler named "Hope" was rescued from impending death through starvation, there is an estimated 15,000 children whom their society has labelled witches, and who have been abandoned to the streets and their own helpless devices, ignored by the people around them, forced to forage and fight for their existence against all odds.

When this tiny boy was rescued, he was skeletal, his medical condition critical, noted Ms. Loven, founder of the African Children's Aid Education and Development Foundation. After the child was taken into custody and being treated for his severely malnourished state, it wasn't certain that he could be saved. Ms. Loven posted photographs of the pathetic foundling on Facebook. She noted that he had been left to die, and might have done so without her intervention.

'Hope,' a Nigerian toddler who was accused of being a witch  Anja Ringgren Loven

She did ask for help to pay for his medical rehabilitation. And this elicited a flood of donations. In two days' time over $200,000 was donated to give aid to the tiny boy, to survive his dreadful ordeal.
His rescuer decided to name the child "Hope", and another Facebook entry days after his rescue informed those interested that his condition had been upgraded to stable. He was being given daily blood transfusion, but was still suffering from worms "giving him some pain".

But he has begun eating, and was able, at the last accounting, to sit up, and to smile. Weekend photos posted of the child show him healthier in appearance, and smiling. In many parts of Africa, according to UNICEF, witchcraft belief is common and widespread. More adults and children were being increasingly accused of witchcraft, and this in turn led to their being shunned and killed. In tribal societies where such primitivism prevails, being shunned is akin to a death sentence.

The children most at risk of being shunned and isolated through being named as witches were boys who were withdrawn by nature, displaying a "solitary temperament, physical deformities, or conditions such as autism". And presumably any older boys or adults who are identified as gay are given similar treatment.