A young boy was abandoned by his parents because they thought he was a witch.

Photos of the little boy, named Hope, show an extremely malnourished child. The founder of a charity called DINNødhjæl, Anja Ringgren Lovén, was giving Hope water in the photo.

Hope’s parents abandoned him on the streets of Eket, Nigeria because they thought he was a witch.

“Hope was in a terrible condition when we rescued him,” Anja said. “He was seriously malnourished and had multiple diseases. The first two weeks he was hospitalized he was in a critical condition. We didn’t know if he would survive or not.”

Anja took in Hope to care for him. She has helped hundreds of abandoned and malnourished children in the past 8 years.

Since 2016, when Hope was found, he has been cared for and educated by Anja’s charity. Today, that little malnourished boy from those horrific photos is unrecognizable.

According to Anja, “Hope is very healthy and loves to go to school. He is very intelligent and his passion is art and to be creative. He is extremely talented at art and many of his paintings have even been sold. We call him our little Picasso.”

Hope looks at that photo of when he was found, and, according to Anja, “he will often point at it and smile as if he is proud.” She said, “I know it’s not about pride. Children are born with the ability to forgive. Children are born with no prejudices. It is when children are taught what to think and not how to think, we fail as a society. Do we raise Hope to hate his parents that abandoned him, accused him of being a witch and left him alone on the street to die? No, of course not. Superstition is caused by a lack of structural education, extreme poverty, religious fanaticism and corruption. No society can develop if its people are deprived of basic human rights such as access to education, health care, and social protection.”

Children being accused of being witches is not uncommon in third-world countries. When there is a death or illness in the family, crop failures, financial issues, or infertility, children are often used as scapegoats and accused of being witches. They are then treated as outcasts by people in the village.

Anja and her team have saved over 300 children. She currently takes care of 76 children in West Africa, where the largest children’s center is located.

The rescued children includev girls as young as nine who have been tortured, sexually abused, and even buried alive before being saved.

Anja says, “education is the most powerful investment in a society and the greatest weapon against ignorance. To solve a problem you need human interaction and communication. Not judgment. We are very professional in our work. We need to help the villagers and change their mindset. We enlighten the villagers through advocacy programs in rural areas.”