10 Jan 2009 |
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By Ahaoma Kanu
Everybody that saw them took a minute or two to get entertained as they watched how beautifully cute and lovely they looked; they laughed, they danced and they really showed the world that they were humans, innocent boys and girls that deserved to be treated with respect, love, affection and an understanding that they are the future of their state, their country and the world in general and there is no stopping them. The children of the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) based at Ikot Afaha in Eket LGA of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria were a sight to behold as they celebrated their Christmas Party on the 23rd of December 2008. And they have the Nigeria Child Group (NCG) and other organisations to thank for the fun galore and exciting moments they had during the event. Eleven Year Old Comfort Bassey, a child at the centre, captured the celebration as being a day they lived and were seen as normal children by the community and people that had hitherto branded them witches and wizards. "People watched us and smiled; they waved at us and danced to our music. For once, they saw us as normal children doing things to make them happy." It is no longer news about the infamous and nefarious man's inhumanity to children going on in some communities in Akwa Ibom State and its environs after the United Kingdom's Channel 4 Television broadcasted the documentary "Saving Africa's Witch Children" on Wednesday, 12th of November, 2008. The world was informed of the how some religious institutions ordained traditional practices and beliefs in witchcraft to perpetuate a massive pogrom on children by diagnosing them as witches and wizards responsible for assumed misfortunes and ill lucks lurking in some families. Their verdict most times was passed according to a law culled from a verse in the bible which commands them to "suffer not a witch to live." While an uncountable number of the defenceless children from the ages of three months to 15 years were unlucky to lose their lives by being tortured to death, buried alive or roasted through a trial of ordeal to make them confess to being witches, some lucky one were banished from the land or left in thick evil forests to die. Many survived and became members of the CRARN founded by Mr. Sam Ikpe-Ituama to cater for them and protect them from a society they were once part of. The emotional documentary shook the whole world and made many curse the churches that were involved in the act while others wrote petitions to the government to act on some of the perpetuators of the act especially a self-confessed Bishop that claimed to have killed 110 children. The government of Akwa Ibom State led by Mr. Goodswill Akpabio suddenly woke up to their responsibilities to protect the lives of the affected children and went on a face saving operation to prosecute the offenders. A group of Nigerians and friends of Nigeria took a step than actual criticisms and condemnations associated with the exposé; they came under the umbrella of the Nigeria Child google group to find a means of affecting the children in a way that would be sustainable. The group soon metamorphosed to the Nigeria Child Group after member participation became overwhelming. Their interaction and actions gave rise to a Christmas party for the children and it was one hell of a gig. The party started with a Awareness Rally and carnival-like ride through the major streets in Eket and Esit Eket communities of Eket Local Council, cheering people dressed in their silk attires with painted faces and jerry curled hair style for the girls while the boys had a smart looking hair cut. The people were taken by surprise and had to give in to their better judgement as they waved at the carnival train that blasted cool Nigerian music to the delight of everyone. If the carnival train and the music did not get your attention, then the dance steps of the children will surely arrest your admiration and leave you with a smile that propels the hand to wave and dance at the same time. After completing the round down Eket town, the train came back to the beautifully decorated CRARN centre which was the venue for the event. Already, the venue was bearing a party setting with canopies mounted, chairs arranged and ribbons of different colours giving the arena a silky feeling of Christmas. As the two MC's that took charge of the occasion declared the party started, it was never a dull moment till the end. The party started with an opening prayer by 8 –year old Joshua who prayed a touching prayer asking God to make the day a memorable one and bless the people that helped in making the event a grand one. "God make the people keep seeing us as normal people as they all did today and also touch the hearts of our parents to know that we are not witches and wizards," he prayed. The MC ordained him Pastor Joshua immediately to the applause of the crowd. Personalities were called to the high table starting from the President of the CRARN, Sam Ituama, followed by Mrs. Anne Medikong, a Nigerian by marriage who has been helping the centre for a long time. Interestingly, the white lady has married and being in Oron since 1974 and could speak the Ibibio language fluently. The representative of the Nigeria Child Group, Mr. Ahaoma Kanu, was also called to the high table. Other guests like the Governor, the wife of the governor, the Commissioner for Information and leaders of different religious institutions were visibly absent with nobody to represent them but it was not noticed as the excitement that hung in the air added more distinguished feeling to the event. The first presentation was by the CRARN children who were clad in their different coloured clothes of pink, sky blue, green and yellow, they performed their welcome song to the delight of all. The welcome song was emotionally moving with lyrics that pleaded with society to have a change of mind towards the children. It welcomed everybody from far and near with whatever belief or insinuation to their Christmas party in the song that had part of its lyrics thus: "We are here to celebrate with you on our Christmas Party day We are kids from the CRARN academy and we are here to bring knowledge to the land We are here to celebrate with you on our Christmas Party day. You are welcome; you are welcome to our Christmas Party day." Isn't that touching? After the welcome song, the President and Chairman-in-waiting, according to the MCs, of the CRARN gave his opening speech. He welcomed everybody to the party and used the opportunity to thank the organizations that helped in making the party a reality. "We are very grateful to you all for showing us that people really care for us and love us as human beings without any prejudice." He also advised the communities to see the children as normal kids with normal lives that need love, care and affection. It was then time for the first act of the day to present their performance and PRG, three –man group, made an appearance on their stylish white shirt, loosened ties and black trousers. They started by giving the children some soothing words of encouragement concerning their circumstances. They said that the environment oppressing the children inspired the track. "We feel very sad about what is happening to the children, parents needs to call these children home and show them love because they are the leaders of tomorrow," they said. "Maybe your parents have done something bad to you, don't give up because you are special and you will get there," they said. They went on to perform a track that boosted the confidence of the children entitled, Don't Give Up. The next act called Ame P came hard on the parents that were involved in the inhumanity to the children but consoled and gave hope to the CRARN kids in his song Change Your Way. His performance was strictly for the children and he faced them throughout the duration of his show time. He waved his hands in the air and all the kids waved back and chorused after him, Change Your Life style. Ame P confided to NCG that he had to hit the parents because of how he feels about the discrimination going on. "When I look around the society and see the discrimination going on, it brings pain to my heart and I feel like crying. I sat down and composed something that will touch people to change their lifestyle," he said. After the thrilling performances, the children choir of CRARN led by the head teacher, Mrs. Rebecca Abiana and Juliana John came and delivered Christmas songs to the applause of the crowd. A comic member of the choir that made the children laugh a lot due to his demonstrations was the Party Mascot called Ekpeyong who danced to the Christmas carols to the envy of Santa Claus who though all day long that the party was supposed to be his thing. Both found a way around the event and became friends throughout the event. It was during that time the first set of visitors of repute came, the entourage of Obong Mkparawa, King of the Boys, Obong Marcualay Thompson Akwaowo and the Village Chairman of Ikot Odiong, Mr John came into the event to give a cultural and traditional colour to the occasion. The children marched out to welcome the guests before reading out the keynote address that focused on their plight on being regarded as witches and wizards. To buttress the point, the CRARN cultural troupe performed three presentations that depicted how the Child Witch phenomenon destabilizes families, disintegrates the child from receiving parental love and care and sets them on collision with the society which hunts them as predators. The result of the assault most of them pass through is gory, painful and results in psychological trauma, social discrimination and in most cases instant death without a chance of the children defending themselves. They called on the people and the government to have a rethink and accept them as normal as none of them are guilty of the sins for which they are sentenced for. After the sympathy-loaded speech by 13 year old Emmanuel, the Obong responded by assuring the children that their plight is being looked into by both the traditional council and government. "For the fact that I came here with my entourage right from the local council from which I collected my certificate shows you that our community accepts you all as our children," he said. It was then time for the CRARN beauty pageant to produce Miss CRARN 2009, girls from the ages of 8-12 were called upon to participate in the beauty contest and they came out ready for some show off and they did present the crowd with majestic catwalks that elicited excitement, happiness and joy from the crowd. After close to 30 minutes of careful unbiased display of the most captivating catwalks in the face of the whole Ikot Afaha, Miss Ime Godwin Mbok (11 years) emerged the winner and was declared Miss CRARN 2009, her victory attracted a whole lot of jubilation and she was showered with gifts of money amounting to over N2000. When she did her victory dance around the arena, there was no doubting the decision of the jury which comprised of a democratic process of asking the people to elect their Queen; Miss CRARN became the dancing queen and showcased dance steps fit only for a royalty. The boy's competition was in dancing and Etuk (8 years) beat his counterpart Ubong (11) to become the newly crowned Mr. Dance of CRARN. The competitions then opened the floor for the CRARN cultural dancing troupe to present their dance drama that saw almost all the women and men joining in the dancing that involved a lot of waist bending and foot shuffling in a manner known only to the dancers but drew admiration from the crowd. The ovation was the loudest and was made more pronounced by the explosion of canon fireworks courtesy of the Obong. The most colourful display involved the masquerade section by the CRARN children; their masquerade danced in a circular motion amidst traditional hailing from both his entourage and the crowd who were delighted to have the masquerade display which came as a surprise. It was then time for group presentations by the kids and it came in a couple form; the children, dressed in cultural clothes depicting the different ethnic groups in Nigeria, entertained the crowd by informing them of the culture they represented as well as performing the dance of that particular ethnic group. The cultural display gave room for refreshment and the children were fed to their fill as they were served with packaged rice and the drink of their choice; they all ate to their fill and that gave room for the dancing that soon ensued till the end of the party. While delivering the vote of thanks, the CRARN president thanked all the guests that were present and showered his gratitude on the Nigeria Child Group that sponsored the party. "We are very grateful and will keep saying special prayers for you all," he said. Some of the children expressed their gratitude to NCG for giving them a wonderful Christmas party. "I will like to say thank you NGC for coming to our aid and we wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year," Comfort Bassey said. One of the children went round the arena holding a placard that summed up all what the children had to say to the group; the placard read, "THANK YOU NIGERIA CHILD ORGANIZATION."
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