Yesterday, we told you about Set Free Ministries’ work in East Africa supporting disabled children who would otherwise be abused and neglected. But that’s not all they do.
Set Free also works in areas of East Africa, where witch doctors have an iron grip on the people. Dean VanderMey with Set Free says in these regions, it’s children and orphans who suffer the most.
One such region is Rakai, Uganda. VanderMey visited Rakai with Set Free for the first time in 2005. He says, “Rakai had 95 percent unemployment at the time. Fifty percent of the people that we were ministering to had AIDS and there were thousands of orphans walking around kind of hollow-eyed. I couldn’t even believe what I was seeing.
“For every 11 people, there’s one witch doctor. So, the witchcraft in that area is very, very strong and they hold everyone through fear because everyone has been abused by a witch doctor there.”
Malaria and waterborne diseases are rampant in Uganda and other areas of East Africa. VanderMey says whenever someone falls ill, their first response isn’t always to visit the nearest hospital. Especially in remote areas, a medical doctor or hospital may be extremely difficult to get to, so they go to the local witch doctor.
“The first thing he will do is he pulls the curtains and that’s where you’re going to be sexually abused as a child,” VanderMey says. “After that, he will give you the herbs to cure you. So the witch doctors hold everyone through fear and terror, and there’s demonization that goes with it.”
SOURCE: Mission Network News, Lyndsey Koh
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