Somewhere in Ghana: Old women forced to drink chicken blood as a means of proving that they are not witches[photos]

Elderly widows in Ghana are being beaten with sticks and accused of being witches by families who want to steal their homes, MailOnline has been told.

The elderly women, some of them very frail, are accused of devil worship shortly after their husbands die and are sent to 'witch camps' in the desert to die, it is claimed. 

They are taken to the country's largest camp in Gnani-Tindang in the country's northern Yendi District where they are met by a priest and take part in grisly voodoo rituals where they are made to drink blood to 'prove' that they are not witches.

Suspected witch Adamu Ibrahim was thrashed with sticks and chased out of her village after she was accused by a relative of casting a spell to give her chest pains, she said.

Being held in a camp housing 500 condemned men and women, 95-year-old Adamu told Mail Online: 'I can never go back to my village again and I expect to die here.'

ased out of her village: Elderly widows in Ghana like Adamu Ibrahim, 95, are being beaten and left to die in 'witch camps' by families who want to seize their dead husband's homes,

Witch claims: The women, some of them very frail like the unnamed lady pictured, are accused of witchcraft by their families who either want their homes or can no longer afford to look after them, it is claimedBanished: Adamu, right, who expects to die in the camp, says she was forced to flee her village after a family member fell ill with chest pains and blamed her. Adamu is one of 500 people who live in the country's largest camp in Gnani-Tindang, in Ghana's northern Yendi District

'My family accused me of being a witch and sent me to the camp. I have no one and I'm all alone here.'

Witchcraft is common in parts of Ghana where people believe voodoo can cast spells of to bring illness, bad luck, financial failure and even death on their enemies.

But campaigner Akuma Mama Zimbi said unscrupulous relatives used it as an excuse to rid themselves of the burden of having to look after elderly relatives.

She said cruel families target helpless widows like Adamu to take possession their dead husbands' houses.

'In Ghana, people rely on their families for money. So if a woman is married to a rich man whom their family rely on financially, they all come for his property when he dies.' 

Voodoo: Adamu, who was first accused of being a witch shortly after her husband died 11 years ago, told MailOnline: 'I can never go back to my village'. The women who are brought to the camp, pictured, are made to drink chicken's blood to prove that they are not witches

Women who have everything taken away, stop eating well and begin to act strangely out of frustration. This strange behaviour is considered proof that she's a witch,' said Ms Zimbi. 

She said women are safer in squalid, isolated camps with no access to toilets or clean water than they are in villages where relatives have turned against them.

Every new arrival to Gnani-Tindang is seen to by the camp priest, Alhassan Shei, a spiritual leader and exorcist, who drives evil spirits out of those he believes are witches.

They spend their first night in the chief's hut, before undergoing 24 hours of shaman rituals of drinking and being smothered in animal blood.

'I slit the chicken's throat and we drink their blood,' he said. 'Then I paint the suspected witch with the blood and say words to awake the her ancestors,' chief priest Alhassan told MailOnline. 

'Sometimes rituals show that she isn't a witch. But she can't go back to her village because they believe she is cursed and will kill her. 

Priest: New arrivals to Gnani-Tindang camp are seen to by priest Alhassan Shei, pictured, who makes them drink chicken blood and take part in rituals to prove if they are witches 

Priest Alhassan told Mail Online: 'I slaughter chickens and we drink their blood,' he said. 'Then I paint the suspected witch with the blood and say words to awake the her ancestors. Pictured: Dried skulls of animals at a witch doctor's hut in west Africa

Alhassan inherited the position of chief priest from his father.

He said: 'Fights start over the widow's property when her husband dies and the children accuse his wife and each other of being witches.'  

Adamu was accused of being a witch shortly after her husband died 11 years ago.

'My nephew accused me of witchcraft when he got a severe headache. He was crying and saying my name. He said that I'd caused it. Then his wife accused me of giving her chest pains. 

'While she was in hospital, she saw my face in a dream and said I wanted to kill her with my witchcraft.' 

Adamu said rumours spread around the village like wildfire that she was cursed and her home was surrounded by former friends and neighbours armed with sticks and then chased out of town. 

source: daily mail online