- Title: A children's home in Nigeria is saving children deemed evil for being born
- Date: 24th September 2018
- Summary: ABUJA, NIGERIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) CHILDREN BABIES BEING ATTENDED TO AT CHILDREN'S HOME VARIOUS OF CHILDREN SLEEPING VARIOUS OF TWINS SEATED IN COT VARIOUS OF TRIPLETS VARIOUS OF VINE HERITAGE HOME FOUNDATION, CO-FOUNDER, OLUSOLA AJAYI HOLDING BABY WOMAN FEEDING BABY (SOUNDBITE) (English) VINE HERITAGE HOME FOUNDATION, CO-FOUNDER, OLUSOLA AJAYI, SAYING: "It was while we were doing our duties as missionaries that we got to hear about stories of certain children being killed due to cultural practices and beliefs and we -- after establishing the fact from the local people that this is what is going on, we started engaging them. It is like a plea, can you please allow us to pick these children and raise them. Your culture tagged them as evil because of the circumstances of their birth, they lost their mothers, born as triplets or twins or they are born as albinos and so, it was not easy at the beginning, it took them sometime before they could allow us to have the opportunity of saving the first child." VARIOUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN CARRYING CONTAINERS WITH WATER FROM STREAM HOMESTEAD VARIOUS OF FARMER, RUTH PAFET SHARPENING A HOE FEATHERS ON THE WALL (SOUNDBITE) (Hausa) FARMER, RUTH PAFET, SAYING: "Honestly, this is heavy for me to talk about; I don't know whether the children are still alive. They (her family) said I should take them there that God used to protect them there, that is why I took them there and I believed them." RESCUED CHILDREN VARIOUS OF A NURSE EXAMINING BABY VARIOUS OF CHILDREN PLAYING ON BED VARIOUS OF CHILDREN READING (SOUNDBITE) (English) VINE HERITAGE HOME FOUNDATION, CO-FOUNDER, OLUSOLA AJAYI, SAYING: "Many of our children came in as infants, some of them few hours after birth, we have children coming three four hours after birth. We have some one or two weeks after birth. There are even some of the children that we have to cut the umbilical cord. When we brought them in their umbilical cord had not been cut and so that, you have some of them at the point of entry they have a lot of health challenges because they had been exposed you know to some hazards because of the cultural beliefs." VARIOUS OF TWINS, TAIWO AND KEHINDE ODENUSI TAKING PHOTOS WITH THEIR MOTHER TAIWO AND KEHINDE SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (English) STYLIST, TAIWO ODENUSI, SAYING: "I find it very saddening because they are special so they are supposed to live, they are not supposed to be killed, like they are two people you know living together, share the same things and all of a sudden you want to take their lives, I feel it is not a good idea to kill twins but I hope with the way things are going, everything will change, definitely." VARIOUS OF RESCUED TWINS PLAYING PUZZLES
- Embargoed: 8th October 2018 17:28
- Keywords: Infanticide twins triplets albinos multiple births
- Location: ABUJA, NIGERIA
- City: ABUJA, NIGERIA
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA0018YZKU3B
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: These twins were considered evil in their communities and would probably have been murdered if they did not end up at this children's home in Abuja, Nigeria.
Superstitious beliefs surround babies from multiple births as well as those born with albinism in many African traditions.
Olusola Ajayi and his wife started the Vine Heritage Home Foundation in 2004.
They take in babies at risk of being killed, after learning that infanticide was still practiced.
"It was while we were doing our duties as missionaries that we got to hear about stories of certain children being killed due to cultural practices and beliefs and we -- after establishing the fact from the local people that this is what is going on, we started engaging them. It is like a plea, can you please allow us to pick these children and raise them. Your culture tagged them as evil because of the circumstances of their birth, they lost their mothers, born as triplets or twins or they are born as albinos and so, it was not easy at the beginning, it took them sometime before they could allow us to have the opportunity of saving the first child," he said.
Infanticide was once common in parts of Nigeria, but work by missionaries in the late 19th century meant it became less so although it continues in secret in some communities.
Campaigners and the government are trying to tackle the superstitions behind these killings and also address the denials and secrecy that surrounds them to protect vulnerable children.
Ruth Pafet a farmer in nearby Wuyewuye village says when she gave birth to twins, she had no choice but to give them up and take them to a children's home in order to save them.
Ruth says two sets of twins have been killed among members of her extended family.
The family keeps two mounds of feathers on a wall to remember them by.
"Honestly, this is heavy for me to talk about; I don't know whether the children are still alive. They (her family) said I should take them there, that God used to protect them there, that is why I took them there and I believed them," she said.
No one knows the true scale of infanticide in Nigeria.
Other babies considered evil include those with physical or mental disabilities, those whose mothers die during childbirth and babies whose upper teeth come through before lower teeth.
Babies are typically killed with poisonous plants, although those whose mothers die in childbirth can be strapped to her body and buried, or abandoned in a room until they starve to death, according to Ajayi.
Over 100 children aged between one-week-old and 14 years now live at the home.
"Many of our children came in as infants, some of them few hours after birth, we have children coming three four hours after birth. We have some one or two weeks after birth. There are even some of the children that we have to cut the umbilical cord. When we brought them in their umbilical cord had not been cut and so that, you have some of them at the point of entry they have a lot of health challenges because they had been exposed you know to some hazards because of the cultural beliefs," said Ajayi.
Not all multiple birth babies are at risk in Nigeria.
Thirty-year-old twins Kehinde and Taiwo Odenusi were raised in a family that sees nothing wrong with multiple births, and say they grew up just like other ordinary children in the capital.
Kehinde is a fashion designer while Taiwo is a stylist.
"I find it very saddening because they are special so they are supposed to live, they are not supposed to be killed, like they are two people you know living together, share the same things and all of a sudden you want to take their lives, I feel it is not a good idea to kill twins but I hope with the way things are going, everything will change, definitely," said Taiwo.
Ajayi says the children are free to return to their families only when their safety is assured.
In many cases, the mothers of the babies at Vine Heritage died during childbirth, with a lack of healthcare facilities and medical staff in villages largely to blame.
Nigeria has one of the worst rates of maternal mortality in the world, according to the World Health Organisation, with 814 deaths for every 100,000 live births in 2015. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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