Inspired Magazine

Top Victims often need
support to overcome
their physical and
emotional scars.
Above Hope is now a
thriving, cheeky toddler.
Above right Anja and
her team work to
raise awareness and
advocacy, rather than
bring condemnation.
pastors often profit from attempts to exorcise the
‘demons’ from those they’ve branded.
It’s these people, those who profit from the
exercise and promote its belief, with whom Anja
takes issue. But she must not risk deriding them
in Nigeria – not if she cares for the safety of her
family, her staff and the children in her orphanage.
Instead of condemning witchery, Anja and her
team work on advocacy – on letting people in the
villages know to contact them if a child is accused.
On giving them an alternative for the child who
was often a beloved family member just days
before the branding.
FIRST RESCUE
Anja will never forget the first boy she helped
rescue. The boy had been hiding in the forest for a
month, too scared to venture out to anyone. But
eventually Anja and her team found him, standing
alone, his t-shirt torn with holes, his body caked
with dirt. “There was no blood, no sign of torture,
but he looked so, so scared,” Anja recalls. “That
look of fear, of absolute loneliness, it was like a
knife went through my heart. I just thought how
can someone abandon a nine year old?”
While the physical and emotional healing takes
time, Anja is amazed at the children’s strength
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ANJA RINGGREN LOVEN