Kindoki is the Lingala word for witchcraft.
It is one of hundreds of words denoting spiritual evil in the many African languages spoken wherever Africans live. Belief in witchcraft is widespread both in towns and rural areas.
It is also present in Europe, where Africans have migrated in the last 50 years.
In Africa it is quite common for children to be accused of being witches and the phenomenon is particularly strong in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Even though it is illegal to accuse children of witchcraft in DRC, revivalist churches, preaching the benefits of child exorcism, have gained great power in the past decade.
In Kinshasa, local charities say high unemployment and unaffordable healthcare are driving more people to rely on these fringe churches for guidance and support.
The Pastors of these churches often target families who are experiencing difficult circumstances and they convince parents that the children are witches and are possessed by evil spirits that needs to be exorcised. These pastors are willing to help….at a price of course.
This usually means that the children are tortured in various ways including nails driven into their heads, being buried alive, being mutilated and just left to die by their families.
Children as young as eight years old in Nigeria are being accused of being witches by pastors.
The children who are accused of kindoki become outcasts within their communities and are then abandoned by their own families.
It is unimaginable for me to think that these parents who are supposed to protect their innocent children are the very one’s betraying them.
Fortunately there are organizations that provide help for children who find themselves in these situations. An organization called Stepping Stone Nigeria provides shelter and food to displaced children.
There are also other organizations involved in this challenge around the world; the one that comes to mind is AFRUCA (Africa Unite Against Child Abuse). This organization in the United Kingdom has been working tirelessly behind the scenes tackling the plight of African children everywhere.