(Image source from: Danish aid worker Anja Ringgren Loven’s 'Witch' Toddler Inspires humanitarianism})

Danish aid worker Anja Ringgren Loven, along with rescuers wrapped the naked and emaciated boy in a blanket and drove him to a treatment center and bathing him.
Accused of being a witch, the tiny boy had spent months trying to survive on the streets. Danish aid worker Anja Ringgren Loven said, "When we heard that the child was only 2 to 3 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."

At the time of his rescue, the skeletal child was in critical condition, said Loven, founder of the African Children's Aid Education and Development Foundation (ACAEDF). Loven said that the child had been abandoned by his family and left to die. She noted that there is an ongoing wave of child-witch accusations. "Thousands of children are being accused of being witches and we've both seen torture of children, dead children and frightened children," she wrote. "This footage shows why I fight."

"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," UNICEF Regional Child Protection Adviser Joachim Theis said. "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."

Loven said she decided to call the rescued boy "Hope," and she requested donations to help pay for his hospital bills. In only two days, more than 1 million Danish kroner (or about $150,000 U.S.) had been donated to help the little boy. "With all the money we can besides giving hope the very best treatment now also build a doctor, clinic on the new land and save many more children out of torture!" she said. "It's just so great!"

By Premji