Many Ghanaians, like many Africans, genuinely fear witches, old women who are said to cause all kinds of calamities and misfortunes, from infertility to impotence, drought to death. Suspicion and jealousy fuel the accusations, which are often supported by nothing more concrete than a dream. Convicted of witchcraft using traditional animal scarifies, the women are banished from their villages, sentenced
to live alone in a culture where family is revered. They must fend for themselves at an age when their bodies are not strong enough to carry water, plant crops or reap harvests. Many of them end up in squalid camps where they work as indentured servants and pledge allegiance to a shrine or chief who are thought to control their powers. Despite education campaigns carried out in the 1990s, the belief in witchcraft has grown stronger: there are more than 3,000 women living at six camps dotted throughout northern Ghana.
Text : Karen Palmer