Danish aid worker Anja Ringgren Loven and her husband David Emmanuel Umem have rescued another young boy who was abandoned by his family after being branded a “witch”.
The couple rescued Uduak about 4 months ago, on the 24 of August, but just shared the story to Facebook.
Uduak was accused of being responsible for his mother’s death and being the reason why his father ran away.
As a result, no one wanted to take him in so he was forced to sleep in an uncompleted building and fend for himself alone for 5 years. He survived by climbing palm trees to pick palm kernels and sell.
Sharing photos of the uncompleted building where Uduak used to stay, Anja wrote:
Yesterday David Emmanuel Umem and I went on home visit with Uduak. We rescued Uduak about 4 months ago, on the 24 of August.
I’m sure you remember the rescue. If not, go to the 26 of August on my timeline to read the whole story.
The villagers said that Uduak was a witch. They claimed that he killed his own mother and that was the reason the father ran away.
Uduak’s uncle did not allow him to stay in his house because of the witchcraft allegations. Uduak was forced to take care of himself and for 5 years he struggled to survive, taking shelter in an abandoned house.
In the first update from August I did not take pictures from the abandoned house where Uduak stayed. But yesterday I took pictures and made a video. It was so sad. I cannot imagine the pain and extreme loneliness Uduak must have felt living in such inhuman conditions. He is only a child.
Yesterday the local villagers and Uduak’s uncle were surprised to see Uduak again. His transformation in just 4 months made them look twice.
Uduak would have died long ago if it was not for his survival skills. He became very good at climbing palm trees to get the fruits that is used in producing palm olie and palm wine. The money he could get from the fruits was not much and he would often spend it on smoking marijuana. He was desperate to escape reality.
Look at these pictures and video and you will understand why.
