home / Our children/ The girl who saved the black boy and took him away. A two-year-old exhausted baby wandered through the streets of the city... Suddenly a real angel appeared on his way! The teacher organized a "Gentlemen's Club" for boys from single-parent families

The girl who saved the black boy and took him away. A two-year-old exhausted baby wandered through the streets of the city... Suddenly a real angel appeared on his way! The teacher organized a "Gentlemen's Club" for boys from single-parent families

AND a skinny child lived on the streets of Nigeria for 8 months. But everything changed when volunteer Anya met him. Horrified by the child’s condition, she bent down to the baby, gave him water, then wrapped him in a blanket and took him to the hospital. They named the boy Hope (hope in English), provided him with first aid and collected money for treatment and rehabilitation.

This is how he was before:

On January 31, Anja Ringgren, an aid worker from Denmark, found him and named him Hope (the name means “Hope” in English).

2 weeks later at Hope Hospital in stable condition

“Today he has the strength to sit and smile at us. He's a strong little boy."

“That’s what makes life so beautiful and valuable, let the pictures speak for themselves.”

Hope (right) plays with Anya's son David Jr. while they visit him in the hospital

Anja Ringgren Lowen and her husband David Emmanuel Umem began building their orphanage for disadvantaged children in Nigeria

Now Hope has recovered so much that it looks like he will soon have to go on a diet :)

The baby lives at the African Development Fund Relief and Education Center in Uyo.

The boy's health has fully recovered, but he will have to undergo another operation due to a congenital disease - hypospadias (a malformation of the urethra).

Rescued Child

First lessons

“As you can see, Hope is enjoying life with his 35 new siblings who care for him, play, and study together. They love him here." Anya Loven said that Hope has hypospadias, a congenital abnormality of the urethra, for which he will undergo surgery next week. “The doctors have performed this operation many times, so everything will be fine with him,” Anya assured.

Anja Ringgren Lowen is the founder of the Foundation to Help African Children Develop and Learn. Three years ago she created this organization to help children accused of witchcraft. Such children were abandoned and sometimes even killed by members of their own communities. “Thousands of children are being called wizards and witches, and we have seen them intimidated, tortured, killed,” Loven wrote on Facebook alongside photos of herself feeding a little boy, calling for donations to help pay for his treatment. “All this money will go not only to pay for Hope’s treatment, but also to build a clinic in a new location. This will help us save many more children from this nightmare!”

Loven also runs a children's center where the young Africans she rescues receive medical care, food and education. At the end of January, together with her husband, David Emanuel Hume, they began construction of a new orphanage building.

If only all such stories ended so well!

Anja Rinngren Loven, an employee of a humanitarian fund from Denmark, together with her husband, rescued a boy abandoned by his parents in Nigeria a year ago. The sick, emaciated child fell from hunger and wandered the streets alone for eight months. The volunteers named him Hope.

The boy's parents accused him of witchcraft and threw him out onto the street.

"I decided to name him Hope because right now we are all really hoping that he will survive. He was in the village, naked, alone and dying."— Loven wrote two days after the boy was rescued.

Every year the number of abandoned children in Nigeria increases: parents kick out their children and leave them to their fate, considering them to be witches. Loven posted a photo of herself giving water to little Hope to draw attention to this serious problem and raise funds for the boy’s treatment and rehabilitation. The photo went viral on social networks, and Hope's story quickly spread around the world. Now more than a year has passed since the first photo, and the 3-year-old boy is unrecognizable.

"Today is exactly one year since the world learned about a little boy named Hope. This week Hope will start school. As you can see, Hope is growing quickly. She is a cute, healthy and very joyful baby."– Anya wrote on her Facebook page on January 30.

In the new photo, a much plumper Hope in a red sweater, white sneakers and a black backpack drinks water from a bottle, as he did a year ago. The boy's healthy appearance turned out to be a pleasant surprise for those who learned his story.

Hope now lives with 35 other children in an orphanage run by Anya Loven and her husband David Emmanuel Umem in Eket, Nigeria. Here they help dozens of other children like Hope, who were kicked out onto the streets by their own parents. In 2009, fighters against the cruel tradition reported that over 10 years in two of Nigeria's 36 provinces, about 15 thousand children were accused of witchcraft and about a thousand were killed.

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In order to do good, you do not need any special abilities or great capabilities. All this is the work of the most ordinary people. Which means everyone can do this.

website invites you to learn about the brightest deeds from around the world committed this year. Let's do good together!

World boxing champion built 1,000 houses for poor Filipinos

Once upon a time, Manny Pacquiao was an ordinary Filipino boy from a poor family, but now he is the only boxer in the world to win the world championship in 8 weight categories. With his first large fee, he built houses for the residents of his home village of Tango. Today, a thousand houses have already been built with his money.

Syrian man stayed in abandoned Aleppo to take care of cats

Alaa Jaleel from Aleppo risked his life every day to provide food and shelter to those in need. And when people left the city, he stayed to take care of their pets. He has more than a hundred cats, including a kitten that one little girl left him when she left. “I said I would take care of him until she came back,” Ala says.

The teacher organized a "Gentlemen's Club" for boys from single-parent families

Raymond Nelson is a teacher in a South Carolina school. He had trouble dealing with the bullies in his class. So he bought jackets and ties and created a “Gentlemen’s Club”, where boys learn once a week what fathers usually tell their sons: how to tie ties, how to address elders and how to be polite to your mother, grandmother or sister. Nelson's strict dress code serves a purpose, because a man wearing a tuxedo wouldn't fight. “I understand that they behave badly not because they are bad, but because they simply lack attention and love,” says the teacher.

Danish woman rescues two-year-old Nigerian boy abandoned by his parents

Almost a year has passed since Danish woman Anja Ringgren Loven found an emaciated two-year-old baby on the street. She named him Hope. His own parents kicked the boy out of the house, considering him a “sorcerer.” Then he was a little over a year old, and he survived only thanks to handouts from passers-by. Anya took him to her shelter, which she shares with her husband, David Emmanuel Umem. 35 rescued children from one to 14 years old live there.

When Anya posted a photo with Hope on Facebook, users from all over the world began to transfer money to her. A total of $1 million was raised. Anya and her husband have plans for a large orphanage and a clinic for children. And Hope now does not at all resemble a “skeleton on legs.” This is a cheerful baby who, according to his adoptive mother, “enjoys life to the fullest.”

Runner sacrifices future medal to help injured rival

At the Olympics, in the 5,000-meter race, New Zealand runner Nikki Hambly faced American Abby D'Agostino. Nikki helped her opponent up, and then they ran together, supporting each other. Both athletes not only qualified for the finals, but were also awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for demonstrating nobility and the true spirit of sport during the Olympic Games.

Thousands of people supported the girl whose birthday no one came to

None of the invitees came to 18-year-old Hallee Sorenson's birthday party. Then her cousin Rebecca asked netizens to support Halle with a card with a few kind words. And something amazing happened - a post office in Maine was flooded with letters and postcards. In total, the girl received 10 thousand cards and gifts.

Schoolchildren repeated graduation ceremony for their classmate who was in a car accident

Scott Dunn was in a serious car accident just before his graduation. After waking up from his coma, Scott was terribly upset that he had missed such an important day. But as soon as the young man began to recover, the school principal called his parents and said: “We want to do something special for your son.” It turned out that Scott's classmates had prepared a personal graduation for him. The celebration, congratulatory speeches, and graduation outfits were repeated, but this time only one diploma was awarded. Scott was shocked to the core: “I have no words. It’s incredible to realize how many people actually care about me.”

A homeless Thai man received housing and a job in gratitude for his honest deed

A 44-year-old homeless Thai man named Waralop found a wallet at a metro station. Despite the fact that he had no money at all, and in his wallet there were 20 thousand baht ($580) and credit cards, he did not spend them on his needs, but took the find to the police. The owner of the wallet turned out to be 30-year-old factory owner Niity Pongkriangyos, who was amazed by the homeless man's honesty. He admitted that if he himself had found himself in such a situation, he would hardly have returned the wallet. In gratitude, Niiti provided Varalop with a service apartment and gave him work in his factory. Now the former homeless man earns 11 thousand baht ($317) a month and no longer sleeps in the subway.

In Altai, a fisherman rescued a drowning moose from an ice hole.

Barnaul resident Ivan Drachev was returning from fishing and noticed a moose that had fallen through the ice. On the third attempt, Ivan threw a rope lasso over its hoof and pulled the animal out. The elk was very cold and shivering, so we had to rub him. “It was funny when I sat down next to him, he put his muzzle on my knee and snorted. It seems like a cow, but it understands everything,” Ivan wrote on his blog.

Despite the high level of development of modern society, on some continents of our planet not only remnants of the past, but also the cruel customs of the Middle Ages are still preserved.

As we know, in the countries of the African continent people highly honor and respect the traditions of their ancestors, the observance of which sometimes reaches the point of absurdity. Many of them believe that cruelty and crimes against humanity can be justified by the traditions and customs of their ancestors. Perhaps they calm themselves down by shifting responsibility for the death of their child to the Gods, the shepherd, or their ancestors.

Probably one of the most cruel and terrible customs or superstitions in Africa is witchcraft, or to be more precise, the accusation of it.

In Nigeria, witchcraft is prohibited by law and those accused of it are tried and imprisoned for many years. In this case, not only an adult, but also an infant can be blamed.

All this happens because in Africa they believe that they are surrounded by spirits and everything that happens in their lives is connected precisely with this. For example, if someone’s car breaks down, then the option of a normal malfunction or low-quality spare parts and fuel is not considered. Everything is attributed to spirits.

But it is also a big bad luck for albinos to be born in these countries.

The reason for this is, as already mentioned, traditions and superstitions. These children are used to make amulets, and their body parts are used in magical rituals. Therefore, in some countries they have created special camps for albinos, which are guarded around the clock. But even this sometimes does not stop those who are ready to commit murder for the sake of an amulet or a conspiracy.

Everything is used to make them: skin, bones, tendons, internal organs, hair, etc.

Taking advantage of such a strong fear of witches and witchers, Protestant churches became very popular there, and with them the ritual of exorcism.

The priests of such churches, or pastors as they are also called, record such sessions on video and sell them throughout the country; even in Europe you can purchase such recordings in specialized stores for Africans.

When in those countries there were no such shepherds and churches, children who were sorcerers were simply thrown out into the streets.

There is a vivid example of such an inhuman act. Volunteer from Denmark Anja Ringgren Loven has been in Nigeria for more than 3 years. She is precisely what she is doing to save such children. Not long ago, the world was shocked by a photo of a little 2-year-old boy greedily drinking water from the hands of Anna (that’s the name of the volunteer). The photo shows that the boy is very exhausted, he is sick, and also very hungry. As it became known later, he was accused of witchcraft and his parents threw him out onto the street, the child spent 8 months there until volunteers found him. For many, it remains unclear how a one-year-old child could harm his parents; probably, there is simply no explanation for this.

One year later:

And there are a lot of such cases; according to the UN, in Nigeria alone in 2000, more than 15 thousand children were accused of witchcraft. It’s scary to imagine what level the total figure reaches throughout Africa.

UN representatives associate this epidemic with the problem of “extra mouths to feed” or, to put it another way, parents simply do not want or cannot feed their child and, in order to justify their actions, accuse him of witchcraft, and then throw him out onto the street.

Thanks to this, the Protestant Church flourishes. Shepherds claim that they cast out the devil from a person, and such exorcism sessions cost from $2,000. In order to cover a larger area and attract more customers, so to speak, they broadcast from local Radio and TV.

Those parents who do not want to throw away their children pay for exorcism sessions, and take the child more than once.

But even these sessions did not help one boy, and he was still kicked out of the house, after which he was able to tell the volunteers what happens during such cleansings.

According to the 9-year-old boy, he was taken to the church, which became a prison for him. He was not allowed to eat or drink, explaining that in this way the devil in him would also weaken, and food would give him strength. After this did not give the result necessary for the shepherd, he began to beat the child, trying to “squeeze out” the evil spirits from his body, and then he began to pour gasoline into his eyes and ears and feed him the blood of pigeons.

Such sessions, as already mentioned, are filmed and sold all over the world, earning millions.

According to the EU, thanks to African communities, such terrible things are happening in Europe. In London alone, more than 80 cases of violence against children who were accused of witchcraft were recorded. But most of these children are sent back to Africa, because... in Europe it is impossible to “cure” this “disease”.

But the researchers were shocked not only by the fact that people are driven to crime by superstition, but also by the fact that in Africa it is believed that HIV/AIDS is not transmitted through sexual contact, as scientists have proven, but through divination. To put it simply, damage was sent to the one who fell ill. At the same time, they avoided both the person suspected of divination and the patient.

A 3-year-old girl, Esther from the Congo, was thrown into the street by her own relatives. She says that her half-brothers and sisters accused her of witchcraft. " One day my stepmother became ill after a two-day prayer vigil. The brothers said that I bewitched her. I didn’t understand what they were talking about and I denied everything. They continued to blame me, and now I lost my home.” A similar incident occurred with 10-year-old Roger. " My mother moved far away when I was little. My dad was very weak. His new wife often beat me, saying that I was a sorcerer. She believed that my father was sick because of me. She finally kicked me out of the house». “My parents died, my grandfather got sick, my aunt accused me of being a witch: “Why is everyone around me getting sick? They are suffering because of you."– says Naomi from Kinshasa.

At this time, children continue to be abused in these countries. No legislative acts can resist this, no matter what measures the authorities take, they are in vain.

For example, the Congolese authorities are trying to fight this epidemic of madness and have passed a law prohibiting accusing minors of witchcraft, but this has had no effect on the situation.

Irina Shvedova

A year ago, Danish humanitarian worker Anja Rinngren Loven and her husband were in Nigeria, where they worked to save some of the thousands of small children abandoned on the streets. Every year their number increases: their parents kick them out and leave them to their fate, considering them sorcerers. “We saw children scared, exhausted and even dead,” Anya, co-founder of the African Children’s Aid Education and Development Foundation (ACAEDF), wrote in a 2016 blog post.

(Total 10 photos)

It was then that she first met (Hope). The child, who was then practically skin and bones, was abandoned to the mercy of fate by his own parents in a small village. “I decided to name him Hope because now we all really hope he survives,” Loven wrote two days after he was rescued. “He was in the village, naked, alone and dying.”

Loven posted a photo of herself giving water to little Hope to raise awareness of this serious problem in Nigeria and raise funds for the boy's treatment and rehabilitation. The photo went viral on social media, and Hope's story quickly spread around the world. Now more than a year has passed since the first photograph, and the three-year-old boy is unrecognizable.

“Today is exactly one year since the world learned about a little boy named Hope. Hope goes to school this week,” Anya wrote on her Facebook page on January 30.

Hope lives with 35 other children in an orphanage run by Anya Loven and her husband David Emmanuel Umem in Eket, Nigeria. Here they help dozens of other children like Hope, who were kicked out onto the streets by their own parents. In 2009, activists against the cruel tradition reported that over a ten year period, about 15,000 children were accused of witchcraft and about a thousand were killed in two of Nigeria's 36 provinces.

Thanks to thousands of people around the world who donated to ACAEDF, Anya Loven was able to help open a clinic on behalf of Hope that helps many other children accused of witchcraft. The organization also purchased a plot of land, which they called “Land of Hope.” A new orphanage will be built here to protect abandoned boys and girls. Loven said Hope is proof that these children's lives can be changed.

“As you can see, Hope is growing quickly. This is a cute, healthy and very joyful baby - all thanks to the incredible love and care he receives every day from our staff and all the children,” says Anya. “Where there is love, there is hope.”