Heartbreaking Photos Show Aid Worker Helping Abandoned African Toddler

Brittany M. Hughes | February 15, 2016
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Heartbreaking photos have emerged online of a starving Nigerian toddler being given food and water by a Danish humanitarian worker after he was allegedly disowned by his family for being a witch.

According to the Daily Mail, Anja Ringgren Loven, founder of the African Children's Aid Education and Development Foundation, found the little boy on Jan. 31 after he had wandered alone for eight months, forced to live off scraps from strangers. After giving him food and water, Loven wrapped the tiny little boy in a blanket and took him to a local hospital for medical treatment.

She named the little boy Hope.

After posting photos of the little boy to Facebook along with a request for donations to help with Hope's medical bills, Loven has reportedly collected over $1 million in donations. According to the Daily Mail, Loven said she will use some of the proceeds to build a clinic for children in similar circumstances.

Loven says it’s not uncommon for Nigerian families to abandon, torture or even kill small children out of the superstitious belief that the child is a witch. Moved by the crisis, Loven said in a Facebook post attached to the photos that she sold everything she owned and moved to Africa to begin a foundation to help these children.

Reports on the Nigerian practice of accusing children of witchcraft aren’t new. Even older reports, like this 2010 article from CNN, detail how many children suffer at the hands of those who believe them to be evil. Some of them are stabbed, buried alive or burned to death by their own families and villages. The luckier ones are simply abandoned and left to fend for themselves.

But while many such children don't get a happy ending to their heartbreaking stories, things are looking up for little Hope. According to the report, the toddler was treated for malnutrition, a dangerously low blood count and parasites at the local hospital.

Within two days he was in stable condition, and can now reportedly feed himself and sit up on his own.

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