View source for Gambaga Witch camp

{{Short description|Segregated community in Ghana}}
{{Use Ghanaian English|date=January 2023}}
[[File:Witches of Gambaga.jpg|thumb|220px|right|alt= Gambaga withces camp|Still from a video by [[Yaba Badoe]] documenting the lives of inmates of Gambaga witches camp]]
'''Gambaga Witch Camp''' is a segregated community within [[Gambaga]] township in the [[North East Region (Ghana)|North East Region]] of [[Ghana]] established as a shelter to accommodate alleged witches and wizards who are banished from their communities.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-150851451|title=The Witches of Gambaga: Belief in Witchcraft Is Still Widespread in Africa, and Being Accused of Its Practice Can Be a Death Sentence. and with Traditional Gender Roles Being Challenged, Such Accusations Are Becoming Increasingly Common. Simon De Trey-White Visits a Camp in Ghana That Has Housed 'Convicted' Witches for More Than 200 Years|author=de Trey-White, Simon|publisher=Geographical|via= |date=June 23, 2007|access-date=}}{{dead link|date=July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-67596546.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329050310/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-67596546.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 March 2015|title=A Prison Sometimes a Haven: Ghana's Witch Villages Only Safe Place for Women Accused of Casting Spells|last=Sullivan | first = Tim |publisher=Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)|work=Associated Press  |date=11 January 1998|access-date=21 November 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-2893225111.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329050312/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-2893225111.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 29, 2015|title=Africa for Halloween?|author=Djanie, Akua|journal=[[New African]]|date=January 1, 2013|access-date=21 November 2014}}</ref>
The camp has about 25 round huts, and holds about 100 inmates. No health services or indoor plumbing are available.<ref name=npong>{{cite journal|last1=Npong|first1=Francis|title=Witch Camps of Ghana|journal=[[Utne Reader]]|date=2014|issue=Winter|pages=48–49|url=http://www.utne.com/community/witch-camps-of-ghana-zm0z14wzsau.aspx#axzz3OO4Nxy3o|access-date=10 January 2015}}</ref>
Many women in Ghana's [[witch camp]]s are [[widow]]s and it is thought that relatives accused them of [[African witchcraft|witchcraft]].<ref name="BBC"/> Other inmates in the camp have been accused of using [[black magic]] to cause misfortunes in their community.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/ghana/9509493/Hundreds-of-women-trapped-in-Ghanas-witch-camps.html|title=Hundreds of women trapped in Ghana's 'witch camps'|work=Telegraph.co.uk|access-date=2017-03-18|language=en}}</ref> Many women also are [[mental illness|mentally ill]], a little understood problem in Ghana.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19437130 | title=Ghana witch camps: Widows' lives in exile | publisher=BBC | access-date=September 1, 2012 | date=1 September 2012}}</ref> In Gambaga, the women are given protection by the local chieftain.<ref name="Gambaga">{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/video/2010/nov/25/witches-gambaga-ghana | title=Ghana: the Witches of Gambaga | publisher=[[Yaba Badoe]] | access-date=September 1, 2012 | location=London | date=25 November 2010}}</ref>
Yaba Badoe made a documentary film, ''[[The Witches of Gambaga]]'' about the alleged witches.
==See also==
* [[Kayayei]]
* [[Witchcraft accusations against children in Africa]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/video/2010/nov/25/witches-gambaga-ghana ''Video by Yaba Badoe about women in Ghanaian camps'']
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooXBMU_06vg Dispatches Saving Africa's Witch Children]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRqrGHA-Azs Witch Child Documentary]
{{coord|10|31|50|N|0|26|32|W|region:GH_type:city|display=title}}
[[Category:Populated places in the Northern Region (Ghana)]]
[[Category:Women in Ghana]]
[[Category:African witchcraft]]
[[Category:Refugee camps in Ghana]]
[[Category:Violence against women in Ghana]]
{{NorthernRegionGH-geo-stub}}