Danish
aid worker, Anja Ringgren Loven took to Facebook to celebrate a boy she
and her husband rescued in Akwa Ibom after being branded a witch and
driven away by his family.When the young boy, Ernest, was rescued almost
5 years ago, he didn't speak English. Neither could he read nor write.
On Monday, he took the second position out of 50 students in his class.
Sharing
a harrowing story of the young boy, Anja narrated how Ernest slept
inside the bushes for two years to escape being killed by witch-hunters.
During this painful period, he met a 9-year-old boy also accused of
being a witch.The two boys became friends and during the day they would
look for small jobs to earn a little money. One night while they were
sleeping inside the bushes, a group of men caught them.Read the rest of
the story below..."The men dragged the boys by their legs out of the
bushes. Ernest and his friend were screaming and fought to get away.
Ernest managed to get free and ran to hide in a bush. His friend was not
that lucky.While hiding in the bush Ernest could see how his friend was
screaming and crying while the men tied a robe around his neck. The
other end of the rope was tied to a car. His friend did not die
immediately. He fought for his life trying to breathe while the car
dragged him around. But within a few minutes he had to give up. He died
slowly in fear" Read the full story below: Back in January 2014, almost
5 years ago today David Emmanuel Umem and I went to do an advocacy
programme in a local village. In the middle of our programme, to our
surprise, some of the local villagers pushed a young boy in our
direction. The villagers told us to take the boy with us because he was a
witch. Let me remind you that our advocacy programme was about
superstition. The boy looked very sick wearing dirty clothes and with
wounds on his body.This was the day Ernest was saved.When Ernest was
saved he did not speak English. He could not even write. When he started
school he struggled to keep up but his challenges in school became his
determination to be the best. After only a few months he could write and
speak English and he even took first position in his class. Year after
year he continued to take first position, not only in his class, but
first position in the entire school. We have celebrated Ernest many
times, not only because of his outstanding achievements, but because of
his strong determination to be the best despite all odds.Back in 2015, a
year after Ernest was rescued, I sat down with him one evening to learn
more about how he managed to survive.Ernest was accused of being a
witch and such accusation will not let a child stay alive for very long.
For 2 years Ernest slept inside bushes to hide himself. His body was
covered in mosquito bites every night but he had to accept it or else he
would risk being killed.While struggeling to survive Ernest met another
young boy, also accused of being a witch. The two boys became friends
and during the day they would look for small jobs to earn a little
money. Ernest told me that it gave him a little sense of protection to
have a friend. Together they helped each other to stay alive.But one
night while the boys were sleeping inside the bushes they were caught by
a group of men. The men dragged the boys by their legs out of the
bushes. Ernest and his friend were screaming and fought to get away.
Ernest managed to get free and ran to hide in a bush. His friend was not
that lucky.While hiding in the bush Ernest could see how his friend was
screaming and crying while the men tied a robe around his neck. The
other end of the rope was tied to a car. His friend did not die
immediately. He fought for his life trying to breathe while the car
dragged him around. But within a few minutes he had to give up. He died
slowly in fear. He was only 9 years old.Ernest witness everything.Ernest
was now alone again. He felt quilty of not being able to protect his
friend. One night he woke up in pain. The men were back. They had set
fire to Ernest leg. The men tried to burn him alive while he was
sleeping. Once again Ernest escaped.I cannot even begin to imagine how
such horrors must feel like for a young boy. Not only the fear and the
struggle to survive, but the loneliness of being unwanted must be the
worse feeling for us as humans. A feeling worse than death.This year
David and our Education Officers Don Udowan, Edidiong and Mr. Bassey
together with our Director of Child Development Nsidibe Orok decided to
change Ernest to a high standard school with highly intelligent students
for him to get more competition.To even get admitted to such high
standard school one must have to be subjected to a very difficult exam
where only a very few number of students will be admitted by the end of
the day. Ernest took the exam and got a very high score and was
admitted. We were all very excited.Due to some administrative procedures
Ernest started the new school 3 weeks later than the rest of the
students. So Ernest missed out of 3 weeks and had to use many nights to
study to keep up with his class mates. It was a tough start for him at a
very competitive school with very intelligent students.Last week was
the end of the first term and Ernest got his result. We were all very
surprised. We never expected Ernest to take a top position because the
school is so highly competitive, but Ernest came home with second
position out of 50 students in his class !!!This is the best Christmas
gift ever. One that money cannot buy.
