Yesterday I watched the documentary "The Witches of Gambaga" at Ashesi university and got a chance to speak to the director of this documentary. The documentary was very disturbing and I did not sleep a wink last night thinking about the women who were branded as witches and living in camps for witches. Any woman can be branded as a witch and when she is branded so, she has to leave home, family, and land, and go live in a camp for witches. If men are found guilty of witchcraft they do not have to leave anything. Every woman in Northern Ghana may be afraid that this could happen to them.
This is injustice. When I asked whether there is a punishment for people who treat women so, the director said this was tradition. And change will be slow. People want to preserve tradition. I do not understand this. If something is wrong, the culprit needs to be punished. I do not care if the crime is traditional or not. All the people who are involved in making women suffer after branding them a witch must be punished.
Moreover, if a woman needs to leave home for being a witch, she should be allowed to take her children with her. These women witches who do not seek justice, and have no desire for revenge against society who treated them so, kept me awake last night. I am seriously touched and concerned.
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