Gangs use voodoo in Nigeria sex trade Police seek help from Christian groups

[Jahness]

Gangs use voodoo in Nigeria sex trade
Police seek help from Christian groups

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- If she runs away from her life of prostitution, her parents will become sick and die.

At least that's what this Nigerian woman believes. The threatened curse, she claims, was part of a voodoo rite performed in her homeland just weeks before she was brought to Greece by a prostitution ring.

"I have no doubt in its power," says the petite 24-year-old, who goes by the alias of Maria and described being forced into seven-night-a-week duty at a flophouse brothel on an Athens back street. "Even if I had a doubt, how could I risk the life of my mother and father?"

Maria's case illustrates one of the least understood corners of the sex slavery underworld: gangs using the perceived potency of native West African voodoo and hexes to hold women in their grip. Recently, however, an unusual alliance has started fighting back.

One of Nigeria's new anti-prostitution inspectors is turning to Christian-affiliated groups to confront a system that -- even by conservative estimates -- may hold sway over at least 10,000 Nigerian women forced to work as prostitutes in Western Europe.

"We cannot fight this by police work alone," said Muhammad Babandede, the chief investigator for a Nigerian task force against human trafficking. "We need the faith groups on our side."

One of the most recent collaborations is being formed in Athens, a chief crossroads for prostitution smugglers from Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia.

An Illinois-based evangelical society is working with Babandede and other experts in voodoo culture on strategies to persuade the West African women -- mostly Nigerian Christians -- to reject the curses and seek help from authorities.

The group, Lost Coin, started counseling and prayer sessions this year aimed at shattering the voodoo influence by evoking the even greater might of God.

"These women believe in voodoo and all kinds of lesser gods, but most are also Christian and believe in the one almighty God who is above all," said Jennifer Roemhildt, who leads the Athens team for Lost Coin. Her organization is affiliated with International Teams, a nondenominational missionary group headquartered in the Chicago, Illinois, suburb of Elgin.

"God can undo the voodoo," she added. "It just takes a while to convince them of this."

Babandede offers a more blunt message: "Voodoo is just a myth, not a reality."

But, in practice, it's not so simple.

'Spiritual terrorism'
Faith in the power of voodoo -- sometimes called juju -- is deeply ingrained in West African culture. It's a direct link to ancient ancestor-based beliefs that include a wide variety of spirits and other supernatural entities, and it forms the base for rituals brought to the Caribbean and elsewhere.

In West Africa, voodoo priests still are often used to seal financial transactions or root out suspected thieves -- often with a threat of a deadly curse for the wrongdoer.

Prostitution gangs parlay this fear to their advantage, Babandede said. Thousands of women and girls seeking transport to Europe -- sometimes with false promises of legal work -- undergo voodoo rituals that can involve drinking blood from cuts and taking nail and hair clippings as totems.

"They are told that fleeing the traffickers will bring death to them or their family," said Babandede, who addressed a recent human trafficking conference in Turin, Italy, one of the hubs for Nigerian-based prostitution networks. "This is a heavy power over these women."

It is also something difficult for most authorities to comprehend.

The international prostitution trade in Europe is mostly built upon other methods of bondage: holding women in prison-like conditions or setting impossibly high repayment sums in exchange for their passports and IDs. For some women who manage to escape, the ordeal is finally over.

"But in the cases of voodoo, it can be just beginning," said the Rev. Tom Marfo, a Ghanian-born Pentecostal pastor who operates mission houses around Amsterdam that specialize in helping West African women break from prostitution gangs. "They think, 'Oh no, the curses will begin.' I tell them to have faith that the true God will not let this happen."

Dutch authorities have taken notice. Marfo is increasingly consulted to understand the centuries-old rituals behind the Nigeria prostitution rings.

"This is more than a police issue. This is an issue of native spirituality -- a kind of spiritual terrorism being used on these women," said Marfo. "You need religious people and the power of faith to fight this."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa....ap/index.html

[OsunkoyaIfayomi]

OniOni Warrior do you believe, the report. Or could it be something to again demonize or practise or African Spiritual Ways
Ifayekunu

[Jahness]

Originally Posted by Kwaku Omobamidele

OniOni Warrior do you believe, the report. Or could it be something to again demonize or practise or African Spiritual Ways
Ifayekunu

Greetings Brother Kwaku Omobamidele

Great seeing you, and welcome to the discussion. I believe the report
in reference to the sex slave trade for European benefit. That is where
all this is taking place in different parts of Europe.

You are also acurate in your assessment of the situation and I agree
with you 100% that it could be something to again demonize our
practice of African Spiritual Ways.

That is what Europeans does best, they always try to desecrate
anything Afrikan. And as always they want us to look to their God
for salvation.

Now you don't think it's ironic, their God is not dealing with the fact
that these European countries are again profiting from Afrikans in
slavery.

If you notice they are again using the Nigerians that are so called
christians to help further in the desecration of our traditional ways.

Those same Nigerian christians needs to tell those Europeans to stop
using Afrikans as slaves.

Thanks for your valuable contributio!

Peace & Blesseing

[OsunkoyaIfayomi]

I also read something that chief Elder Osiris wrote about a secrect meeting of Black clergy to go into Africa. They are determined to erracticate us mentally as well as physically, spiritually etc. However we are determined not to let that happen to the last breath

[IfasehunReincarnated]

Any true spiritual science can be used for good or bad. The science that made the nuclear bomb could have been used to create alternative ways to fuel cars and planes. The outcome of any science is based on the aims and ethics of its scientist. It is possible to use a science of evil and give it any name so as to mask it intent. I could beat you up and say that "voodoo" helped me, to make it more impactful or terrorize others with a "word".

But mind you, vodun is based on moral righteousness and the punishment for transgression is severe. Vodunists do not condone, support, perpetuate or encourage negative spiritual activity.

Lastly, voodoo and/or vodun do NOT exist in Nigeria. The very use of the word suggests that this report is slanted or the individuals claiming to have power over these girls are just playing mind games. Vodun is in Benin, Togo and Ghana. Our traditions in Nigeria are not referred to as such. They simply reached for a word that the european and negro mind would flinch at hearing or be touched by emotionally. They are banking on the ignorance of the common persona about the true nature of Voodoo which is rooted in morality.

[OsunkoyaIfayomi]

Alaafia Iyawo Olukun