How it all started
On January 1st, 2010, a group of friends of whom Leonardo Rocha dos Santos – founder and director of WN – was part of, landed in Nigeria from Brazil. They arrived there for a one-month trip whose aim was that of learning more about the plague of the stigmatized children in Southern Nigeria and West Africa in general, and to do something to help the kids and their families.
At the very beginning
the mission was meant to be a mere educational program. As a matter of fact, Leo and his friends were all part of a Christian group rooted on Brazil, called Caminho da Graça (Way of the Grace). It was during some meetings of this Christian group that they were invited to watch a documentary about the so-called witch children.
Learning about witchcraft
Hit by the fact that the accusation of witchcraft normally happened in the place where children would have been supposed to find love and protection – the churches – Leo and his friends decided to investigate more into the phenomenon. Once they had studied enough about the cultural background and the social context that make a frame to the witchcraft accusations, they felt confident enough to go to the place and begin a project of re – education of the people.
Why this mission?
The message that Leo and the other involved people wanted to spread – still actual and still at the base of Way to the Nations mission – is very simple and yet difficult to be accepted by people whose extreme poverty is ground for fear and desperation: mental conditions that lead to superstition.
What Way To The Nations tries to show is that no matter what you believe in, with what name you call God and how you worship it, if you call yourself a believer or an atheist, there is only a principle the must govern your life: that rule is love. Where there is love, there are empathy, understanding and mutual aid. Love wins fears, makes differences acceptable and daily life struggles tolerable. It is through love that the superstition can be overcome.
Indeed, superstition is nothing more than the fear of the unknown. An irrational, sometimes wicked, always easy answer to the difficulties of life. At Way To The Nations we teach outcast children to love themselves and their families. What they become after they are rescued, the way that all the children bloom, is what makes their families and the people around them open their eyes and win their fear.
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FROM AN EDUCATIONAL PROJECT TO AN ORPHANAGE.
Leo left for his first trip to Nigeria in January 2010, strongly convinced that what he had learnt through the media was exaggerated. When he arrived there, he sadly had to realize that the situation in the villages was far worse than he had expected.
Before judging the habit of accusing children of witchcraft, we must remind that in the African culture there is a strong connection between the spiritual and the material dimensions of life. In a certain way, there is no separation between the two worlds, so that it is normal to conceive spirits as an essential and normal presence in daily life. If, for some aspects, this conception of the world is enriching, on the other side, under certain circumstances like extreme poverty and lack of education, the concept of interrelation between the two dimensions can lead to distortions. For instance, people genuinely think that an innocent child is a witch who uses its superpowers to damage the family and /or the village, and therefore deserves to die. Add that this belief is often encouraged by local “healers” who sell expensive rituals to get rid of the wicked spirit and that, very often, families cannot afford the price and you can understand why there are so many children outcast, tortured and forced to hide in the bush for fear to be killed.
So, back to how it begun, Leo likes to remind of Ezekias, the first child whom he rescued.
He was about 8 years old and had been savagely beaten after being accused of being a witch. His elbow was broken, and he was very scared. Leo took him to the village’s doctor but found out that this was a lady of good will, fond of medical herbs and nothing more. So, he took him to a hospital, paid for his cure and found him a safe place in an orphanage. After this episode, Leo decided to come back to Africa again, just three months after the first trip. He went on with the educational program, soon getting involved with locals. He quickly was asked to go rescue children in danger.
In the second half of 2010, Leo had already rented the first small flat he used as a safe house for some children and had employed staff to take care of them. It was necessary for Leo to rent his own house because, soon after putting the first children in a local orphanage, he found out the some of the staff members working there believed in witchcraft.
This is how it happened that Leo started what possibly was the first structure dedicated exclusively to the rescue of children accused of witchcraft.