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LAND OF HOPE, Nigeria

LAND OF HOPE, Nigeria

Founder: Anja Lovén, Denmark

https://landofhope.global/

Anja Ringgren Lovén is the founder of Land of Hope, a Danish aid organisation that is leading the fight to save the thousands of children being accused of witchcraft every year in Nigeria.

The Project:

SCHOOL FEES AND SCHOOL MATERIALS FOR THE  CHILDREN LIVING AT THE ORPHANAGE LAND OF HOPE

The original project of installation of thunder arrestors have been cancelled due to lack of funds to start the project.

Land of Hope has proposed a new project for A Wish for Humanity to help financing. The 92 children need uniforms and school materials, as well as Land of Hope needs to pay school fees for all children. Some are now in college.

READ THE INTERVIEW

LEARN MORE ABOUT LAND OF HOPE

The boy Hope

HOPE: Help One Person Every-day

The first time Anja Lovén, the founder of Land of Hope, saw an abused and famished so-called witch child wandering the sandy streets of a Nigerian village, her heart was broken. And while Land of Hope can trace its origins back to this experience, the story of Land of Hope is not a story of heartbreak or disaster.

Rather, it is a story of passion and the will to fight for children. It is a story of an unyielding belief that given patience and trust, anybody can have a positive impact on their community. It is a story of a fierce fight against superstitions and their sometimes horrifying consequences. And of course, it is, above all, a story of hope.

Anja’s face became recognisable worldwide when a photo of her with a malnourished Nigerian “witch” child went viral on social media in 2016. In the photo, Anja gave the boy some crackers and water, which he drank carefully, took him gently up in her arms, and went to the hospital. Anja did not think that he would survive.

“When we got him in the car, I looked at my husband and told him we should name him Hope,” she said. “I didn’t want him to die without a name. I wanted him to die with dignity. To me, Hope stands for Help One Person Every-day.”

What We Do

We save innocent children, accused of witchcraft, from exclusion, torture and death.

With care, protection and education for the children and by educating their surrounding communities, we lay the foundation for a future, where children grow up to be independent, active and social individuals who contribute to the development of their community.

We address the root of the problem.

What we do is about so much more than saving Nigeria’s witch children. It’s about strengthening the position of small communities in the face of a neglecting government. It’s about bringing education to some of the poorest communities in the world.

We don’t find hope, we build it.

It’s ingrained in our outlook on the world. It’s evident in our faith in our fellow man. It’s in our name. Hope. We are truly optimistic about the mission we are on. But rather than finding random glimpses of hope or waiting around for promising opportunities, we act.

We build the buildings needed to shelter children at risk. We build relationships with local communities in order to gain their trust. And we build character within the children in our care, so they become living proof that hurtful superstitions have no foundation in reality.

OUR BELIEF:

A world where no child suffers due to the superstitions of adults.

Mission

We save innocent children, accused of witchcraft, from exclusion, torture and death. With care, protection and education for the children and by educating their surrounding communities, we lay the foundation for a future, where children grow up to be independent, active and social individuals who contribute to the development of their community.

Values

Children’s rights are at the core of everything we do. To ensure that every child’s life is characterized by love, safety, education and a bright future, it is necessary to bring progress and enlightenment to superstitious communities. The values that guide our work are:

WHY WE CHOSE TO WORK IN NIGERIA

During the last decade, accusations of witchcraft made against Nigerian children have risen alarmingly, especially in the state of Akwa Ibom, where Land of Hope’s children’s centre is located. The cause of the rise in belief in witchcraft and black magic is a complex mixture of social, economic and religious factors. If we are to combat superstition, we have to tackle the root of the problem, and that lies in the impoverished villages in which Land of Hope runs its information campaigns.

Land of Hope works on the conviction that education is of massive importance to the ability of future generations to build a just society. We believe that education is the most effective weapon in the battle against superstition.

WHY ARE CHILDREN ACCUSED OF WITHCRAFT?

The residents of the poorest areas of Akwa Ibom feel abandoned and marginalized by the government, which does nothing to educate and develop their communities. Schooling for the children is irregular, and superstition is deeply ingrained in African culture, which gives sustenance to jungle law, superstition and ignorance. Families look for an explanation for their poverty, or sudden death, and fear of evil and the supernatural can be so strong that it displaces love for a child, which can quickly be made into a scapegoat. Finally, many of the revivalist churches use superstition for exorcism, which they earn a lot of money for. Local priests are therefore responsible for the majority of witchcraft accusations against children in the state.

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A Message from Lisbeth

We have chosen to work with Land of Hope for their serious and professional way of handling a very difficult subject; superstition.

Fighting against the accusations made about children being witches, is a menace that has led to the stigmatization, torture, abandonment, and killing of thousands of children in Nigeria. 

We are proud to help collect money for much-needed thunder masts to protect the children and staff at Land of Hope.

Let us together make life better for millions of women and children in the world.

With love for Humanity,

Lisbeth

Founder of A Wish for Humanity

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