Witch Camps in Modern Ghana

Belief in witchcraft in Ghana is not uncommon, especially in rural areas with little education to prove superstition otherwise. However, the practice is viewed through a hostile lens. A report by Mensah Adinkrah clearly adds to this idea, stating:

“Such widespread belief in the existence of witches, coupled with a penchant to invoke witchcraft to explain adversity, is so deeply embedded within the culture that many Ghanaians cannot proffer alternative explanations for automobile accidents, disease epidemics, conjugal problems, reproductive difficulties, chronic unemployment, and business failure than malevolent witchcraft,”

Superstition can have severe impacts on society, though. With explanations come blame, and often women and more recently, children are dominantly accused of witchcraft. These accusations are not taken lightly, and often the accused are subject to physical violence, or even death. As stated in an article by Chi Adanna Mgbako and Katherine Glenn, “those accused of witchcraft may flee their home areas to escape anticipated harm or may be forced from their villages by the community,” to one of six witch camps spread throughout Ghana. Regardless of the circumstances, the accused are forced to leave their homes, families, friends, and community to escape abuse. The mental repercussions involved with this are just as destructive as the physical ones. Nevertheless, within the witch camps, the accused are able to build new lives in the safety of a village. The living conditions are unfortunately poor, but the camps are run by chiefs who protect the occupants from vigilantes (BBC CITE). Although the accused are allowed to leave whenever they choose, the reality is that very few actually do. As a result, the po...

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...st sense of personal healing. The pain of severing social ties at home to escape a life of violence means at the camps, one is able to build a new identity within camps. Sometimes other family members may be sent to the camps either as accused witches or for support. This can help in many ways, including during the physical and mental healing process. By far the most important part of livelihood is being accepted into society, rather than being outcast as the other. Witch camps contribute to the new, social organization where organic solidarity is created. In this new social organization, all accused share essentially the same status, which reduces the risk of minority or majority parts of the group coming together; the truth is that outside the camp, all it’s inhabitants would be considered a minority group. However, within the system, no one exists as a minority.