After Ornella lost several family members within three years, relatives and neighbours in her east Congo village of Kabare began suspecting the 14-year-old girl of witchcraft.
The hushed rumours and purifying rituals that ensued prompted one of Ornella's brothers to take her to the police, concerned about the consequences that the allegations could have on his sibling.
It is not uncommon in some African countries for frail children like Ornella, who suffers from a genetic form of anaemia, to be considered a bad omen and blamed for the mishaps that befall isolated and impoverished communities. Hundreds of thousands of children across the continent are accused of witchcraft each year, according to a 2022 report by the African Child Policy Forum, an independent research group.
They almost always end up being shunned and forced out of their homes, are physically assaulted and sometimes killed, the report found. Ornella, who did not wish to give her full name, was taken to a centre in the nearby city of Bukavu named "Eka Bana" that shelters around 60 children in the same situation.
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