Exorcising Witchcraft in Ghana. A powerful Ghanaian documentary highlights the plight of the 'witches' of Gambaga.
Witchcraft in Ghana is a very real phenomenon. It displaces people from their homes, it breaks up families and it destroys lives. Those believed to be responsible for causing illness and misfortune are often tortured, killed or expelled from their villages. Yaba Badoe’s powerful and heart-rending documentary The Witches of Gambaga , screened in London as part of Film Africa 2011 , examines the lives of some of the accused witches who have sought refuge in perhaps Ghana’s oldest and most famous witches’ camp of Gambaga. Filmed over the course of five years and told largely by the women themselves, the documentary highlights the plight of some of the true victims of witchcraft beliefs. Salmata was attacked and run out of her village after she was blamed for her stepson getting ill; Amina was threatened and exiled when her brother died suddenly; Asara, a successful trader, was accused of being a witch after an outbreak of meningitis in her town. The women of Gambaga, often v...