The Voices & Music of Ghanian Witch Camps.
Reports from Other Continents
Ghana is the only country in the world that has witch camps. In many places, people believe in witchcraft, but Ghana is the only nation that confines elderly women because of it. Those declared witches survive selling firewood. Or they work the field for the chiefs. Some of the younger ones have had to resort to prostitution. Though rarer, there are also men that are also accused, and they are deemed 'wizards.’ Their mental health issues and/or physical ailments— blindness, senility, misshapen limbs— have instead been vilified, and the vulnerable shunned and ostracized, routinely as a ruse to steal their land after their husband’s passing. It bears more than a passing resemblance to America, where the aged are often dumped in convalescent facilities rather than cared for at home.
By Ian Brennan & Marilena Umuhoza Delli.
Ghana, 2021
