Hope for women at Gambaga 'Witches' Camp'
A piece of land has been secured for the construction of a modern residential facility to house women and children who are currently living at the Gambaga Alleged Witches' Camp. The project is the initiative of the First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, who, during her last visit, made a request for the land to enable her to put up a decent facility to house the inhabitants of the camp.
The District Chief Executive for East Mamprusi, Mr Adam Imoro, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic, said the land size was over 10 acres.
He said the land was secured from the Gambaga-rana in consultation with the Overlord of the Mamprugu Traditional area, Naa Mahami Sheriga.
'The First Lady charged us to find the land because she was touched by the plight of the women in the camp and wanted to construct a suitable place for them,' he said.
Mr Imoro said the facility would also include a clinic, market and school. He, however, could not indicate the source of funding for the proposed project and how soon this project would materialise.
The women at the camp have welcomed the initiative of the first lady and expressed the hope that this would not be a mere promise.
'The camp is in very poor condition and we would be very happy if a new place is built for us,' said the leader and magazia of the camp, Takira Mutaru.
About the camp
'Our rooms have become dilapidated and the roofs are leaking badly. When it is raining, we have to keep awake with our children till it stops,' she lamented.
The Gambaga Alleged Witches' Camp is one of the oldest settlements in the Northern Region for women who have either been banished by their communities or have voluntarily run away to escape from abuse after being accused of witchcraft.
In the past, the camp was an isolated settlement. Today, it has become part of the Gambaga Township because people have built close to the camp to the extent that a first time visitor may stray into the camp without knowing.
The settlement is largely characterised by a cluster of mud houses with thatch roofs and surrounded by zinc-roofed houses that belong to the townsfolk.
Each compound has at least an old lady staying in it with her children and grandchildren.
Over the years, the women have adapted to life at the camp and have found solace in each other.
The painful ordeal
It is actually difficult for one to describe this place as a settlement for supposed witches. It is serene and peaceful. One could easily fall asleep under the shade provided by the trees as the air blows over one's body.
Children can be seen playing cheerfully and the old women put aside all their tribulations to share jokes among themselves and their visitors.
A compound house at the campEach woman at the camp has her own bitter story of how she came to settle in the camp, but the one thing that runs through all these narrations is that each of them suffered abuse from their accusers.
One of them, Zenabu Bugri, 78 years, narrated her ordeal.
'I was sleeping one dawn when they woke me up. Some people came to the house and said one girl had seen me in her dream and screamed. They accused me of trying to bewitch her and when I denied it, they started to beat me. One man intervened on my behalf and brought me to this place.'
Coping with the difficulties
Mma Zenabu said she had four kids, but two had died before she came to the home. She said she had to leave with her other two children to the camp because her husband was not responsible.
'When I was accused, he did not say anything,' she said.
'At the time I came here life was very difficult. The chief engaged us on his farm and after harvest he gave us some of the food,' the magazia said.
She said they used to starve because it was hard to come by food.
The magazia, however, indicated that over the years life at the camp had improved.
She attributed this to the support from a number of NGOs and philanthropists who had been providing them with food rations and other donations.
The LEAP Cash
She also mentioned the cash allowance they received from the assembly under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme once every three or four months.
'Sometimes they give us GH¢90. Sometimes, they give us more,' she said.
Meanwhile, the women also engage in some economic activities to earn income for themselves.
Some of the women processing dawadawa seeds.Many of them gather shea nuts to sell to women at the Gambaga market who process sheanuts into butter. Some of them also process dawadawa, while others gather and sell firewood.
'We go to the bush during the dry season and gather the wood,' said one of them.
With inputs from NGOs, they sometimes cultivate food crops, mostly maize, during the farming season.
Defending their rights
According to the Social Welfare Director for the East Mamprusi District, Mr Musah Abdul Majeed, 90 per cent of women living at the camp have been captured under the LEAP.
'They are hundred in number. Each time we visit the camp, we make payments to the sum of GH¢5,409. Each woman is given an amount depending on the number of dependents she has. The least a woman can take is GH¢92,' he said.
However, for over six months, the government has defaulted in releasing the LEAP cash and this has brought some hardship to the women at the camp.
'We have received notice that it might be released by the end of June this year,' Mr Abdul Majeed assured.
Reintegration
Women at the Gambaga camp are members of a network for alleged witches that was formed in 2010 by ActionAid Ghana in partnership with Songtaba, a community-based organisation.
Ti-GBUB'TABA, as it was named, is a platform for the women to identify their rights and needs and also form a stronger voice to challenge the culture of abuse of alleged witches.
According to a Programme Officer for Songtaba, Mr Mahama Amadu Jaana, the formation of the group has enabled the women to engage with duty bearers, especially district assemblies, to demand improvement in their living conditions.
He said aside from empowering the women to defend their rights, the two organisations have been implementing other interventions at the camps, which include the provision of food rations and support for the cultivation of food crops.
Some NGOs have made attempts to reintegrate women at the camps back into their communities; however, this has been a Herculean task.
Mr Sampson Laar, Project Manager for the Presby Go Home project, said attempts were made to reintegrate more than 50 women at the camp, but some of them suffered stigmatisation and so they returned to the camp.
'Before the reintegration, a lot of community sensitisation is done in the communities to engender a change in attitude towards women accused of witchcraft, but it's not an easy task,' he explained.
Mr Laar, however, mentioned that the project had between 2010 and 2012 succeeded in returning 52 new admissions back to their communities after the chief priest performed some rituals to exorcise them of the witchcraft.
'The people believe in the powers of the priest and so they welcome the women back, although there is still some stigma attached,' he stated.
Disbandment not the solution
After visiting one of the camps in 2011, a Deputy Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, Hajia Hawawu Boya Gariba, said the ministry had decided to disband all such camps.
In a statement she said the ministry considered the existence of those camps as not only a violation of the human rights of the women and children there, but also a national disaster.
The women at the Gambaga camp, however, frown on this suggestion. In spite of all the challenges, the camp remains the only place they can call a home.
'We are not prepared to go back. We would not be treated well so we feel better remaining here. This place has become our home and we are now a family,' said the magazia.
By Nurudeen Salifu, Gambaga