He was abandoned by his biological parents, deprived of food water and medical care a few months after arriving in this world. It was meant to starve him to death.
His superstitiously heartless parents and primitive members of his community accused him of witchcraft.
He was just two. At an age when most toddlers could barely hold the call of nature, he was left scavenging for food and surviving on the dusty roads of a community in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria.
Hope is his name and he lived it.
January 31, 2016, was the day his star will shine brightest with nature presenting an angel who would make sure his he lives beyond the expectations of the society which saw him as less human.
That day marked exactly four years when his rescuer came along to reverse the fortunes of the severely malnourished, fragile and skeleton-looking boy. He was looking half dead with many betting on his chances of living another day.
Saved by Danish humanitarian worker, Anja Ringgren, who led a team comprising David Emmanuel Umem and Nsidibe Orok, from the African Children’s Aid Education and Development Foundation, a charity organisation, the boy who would later be named Hope now lives a healthy life with several aspirations for the future.
To mark the four years since the rescue event, the aid worker has posted photos which depict the amazing transformation of Hope, a stark opposite of the pale and gut-wrenching picture of the toddler years ago.
Four years on, the Danish helper of Hope has posted recent photos of hope with a message to encourage the world to support the marginalised in society.
The post has received more than 300 shares with overwhelming messages of encouragement and gratitude to the centre that has dedicated their resources to raise Hope and over 70 other homeless children in Nigeria.
International organisations UNICEF, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Save the Children and Human Rights Watch have raised concerns about the increasing spate of violence and abuse meted out on children accused of witchcraft in Africa.
Such children are perceived to be the embodiment of everything evil including misfortune, diseases, poverty, bad luck and death.
The communities which encourage such culture hold hate and resentment for such children. Thus, the children are subjected to punishment, torture, extreme processes of exorcism or even death via the most painful means.
Even though statistics of such children are hard to come by, Safe Child Africa, an international NGO dedicated to child protection, estimates that 80 per cent of the child victims accused of witchcraft will run away or be abandoned by their parents.
