ghanailoveyou: The Old Ladies of Gambaga Witches Camp (2015) by Eric GyamfiGhanaian fine art photogr

ghanailoveyou:The Old Ladies of Gambaga Witches Camp (2015) by Eric GyamfiGhanaian fine art photographer Eric Gyamfi in collaboration with creative Aaron Yeboah Jr. created a moving photo essay focused on the “witches camp” located in Gambaga, Ghana. The Gambaga camp established in the East Mamprusi District in northern Ghana 200 years ago, now keeps 130 women monitored by the chief Yahaya Wuni. Chief Wuni peforms a ritual sacrifice to rule whether or not the women accused of witchcraft are guilty when they are brought to him, and a ransom of sheep and hen must be paid if the woman is to be released.The women at the camp deal with tremendous stigmatization and marginalization (they often cannot return to their communities even if innocent) but Gyamfi’s photography captures their resilience in the face of this trauma as a way to mirror back their ability as women to fight on.Click on the images to read about their story, including the story of Mma Asana Mahama from Sakogu, Nalerigu.I recently ran across some interesting conversations re: women being accused as witches, across cultures. One of the things that came up was that the women were frequently widows, or single, they basically had no family network to support/protect them and were living in very patriarchal societies. So they were vulnerable.Another thing is that frequently they had land, or some other resource (though usually land), that someone else - someone more powerful than them - coveted.Another point is that they were generally perceived as using more community resources than they gave back, being (frequently) old and infirm.So just as we hear about young girls or women being married off or subject to honor killing or domestic violence or genital mutilation, older women can be robbed of everything they’ve ever had, and face yet more violence and more death and total social ostracization - because they’re women. It’s not like the violence stops at a certain age, it just takes different forms. -- source link

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