The late Dr Carl Sagan once reflected on how he
took interest in astronomy at an early age.
Growing up in Brooklyn, United States and filled
with curiosity he had asked family members the
question; ‘what are stars?’ ‘They are lights in the
sky, kid’ he was told. Unsatisfied, he questioned
his mother who suggested he approached a
librarian. Upon asking for a book on stars, the
man returned with a book on movie stars!
Sho Yono, an Asian with an estimated IQ of 200,
received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology in his
teens, successfully becoming history’s youngest
MD. Ainan Cawley, a Singaporean boy in his teens
stunned the world when he delivered a remarkable
lecture about acids and alkaloids to the utter
amazement of adults.
Adam Kirby became the youngest member of the
British Mensa at the age of two after scoring 141
in an IQ test, conveniently meaning that at that
age, he was smarter than Barack Obama and
David Cameron put together.
These are flesh and blood kids like many others
around the world driven by curiosity who possess
abilities that can best be described as strange.
Throughout history, stories have been told of
children so different that, while some have
denounced them as evil, others have argued that
they are gifted kids living among men.
For example, the story is well documented of the
case in the 6th Century BC, of Mnesarchus, the
father of Philosopher Pythagoras, who while
travelling home from work one day, came upon an
abandoned child. The bizarre child it was said
had survived solely on the dew from a nearby
tree. Taking this child in, Pythagoras’ father
named this child Astraios, which is Greek for ‘Star
Child’. It is said that this child was raised with
Pythagoras and his siblings and that he was later
given to Pythagoras as his servant. It is believed
today by many that, this strange child may have
been responsible for most of Pythagoras’ works
in the field of Mathematics and Philosophy.
A good fable or not, I cannot tell. But the point of
this story is that there are countless kids around
the world today, Nigeria inclusive, who, like the
young Sagan, Sho, Ainan and Adam, have a lot
inside them and yet are grossly misunderstood,
that even though some of them display
behaviours that is different from how we expect
children to behave, they deserve our care rather
than cruelty.
Though I am not here trying to deny the existence
of ‘evil’ kids, my quarrel is with cruelty to every
unusual child. Recently, we heard the story of one
Francis Taiwo, who was said to have chained his
son Korede in a room for days with little food, in
an attempt to cast the evil spirit from him.
Depressed as we may have felt about this sort of
sordid story, we must also bear in mind that
stories like this will not go away until something
drastic is done to remedy the situation. As a
matter of fact, since 2008 – we recently
witnessed the case of Danish woman Anja who
picked up a small boy accused of witchcraft and
left to die by his family in Uyo- many kids have
been facing torture in Akwa Ibom State at the
hands of their parents, upon the instigation of few
religious charlatans like Helen Ukpabio of Liberty
Ministries.
Only God knows how many faceless and voiceless
kids scattered across the length and breadths of
Nigeria who have died. Eccentric kids have been
around since the dawn of history. Even Jesus
Christ of the Christian faith himself at some point
was considered an eccentric. Being strange should
not be license to visit barbarism on any child.
While the like of Ukpabio will denounce such kids
as witches and wizards, the like of Gorgio A
Tsoukalos, a Greek American publisher would
define them as gifted kids or ‘Star Kids’ that we
should make efforts to understand rather than
destroy
Akwa Ibom State is very notorious for child
abuse. For example, at a time one of the kids in
the care of the Child Right and Rehabilitation
Network (CRARN) included a teenage girl whose
mother tried to saw off the top of her skull after a
pastor condemned her and repeated exorcisms
costing a total of 100,000 naira didn’t cure her of
‘her witchcraft’!
Of all the despicable stories coming to light from
Akwa Ibom, the most depressing for me is the
story of Nwaeka, 16, who was mentally retarded
as at the time her story was told, seated all by
herself in the mud, her eyes rolling, scratching at
her stick-thin arms. The wound on her head
where a nine inches nail was driven looked to be
healing well but was still dripping whitish pose as
at when I watched her video. Her family pastor
had denounced her as a witch.
As far back as 1982, the Chinese government
launched a nationwide search for kids with extra
ordinary abilities. The purpose was to develop
and harness their gifts. Today in Nigeria, some of
the traits the Chinese government looked out for
in those kids then are the same traits the like of
Helen Ukpabio and her co-travellers are
condemning kids for. A child that is sickly, bed
wets, stubborn, quiet and reserved, disabled, too
intelligent, according to Helen Ukpabio’s book, is
a witch. If the lives of these kids are so easily
disregarded, this begs the questions; what is
wrong with us as a society that we have turned
on our kids, the most vulnerable in society?
Apart from preaching against cruelty to children,
Jesus always found time for youngsters. He is
even quoted as telling his disciples that unless
they became like little children they would not
enter the kingdom of heaven. Even the early
church, in adherence to Jesus’ teaching,
recognized the child as a person. For them, both
children and adults were equal in the kingdom of
God. There are overflowing examples in the Bible
of how children were looked after. This is the
same Bible the like of Taiwo and Helen carry,
preach from and site as giving directives to their
shameful crimes against children.
I believe it is time for an adequate response to
this issue of child abuse as a matter of urgency.
This response should be one that addresses the
attitude of the general public towards gifted
children. More National Child Protection laws,
ones which give forte to agencies and institutions
that exists to look into the issue of child abuse
should be made and strengthened. These laws
should exist solely with the mandate to prevent
and respond to cases of abuse, exploitation and
violence against children.
The government should also come down heavy on
religious charlatans, and as a matter of fact, there
should be a very serious regulation of church
activities and registration and the activities of the
so called exorcist and deliverance healers in this
country.
Who say we cannot make efforts to understand
our unusual kids like the Chinese government did
in 1982, benefit from and provide for them? Some
of them are actually geniuses who simply need an
enabling environment to thrive. Now is time to
quit soaking our hands in blood by torturing our
own ‘Star Kids’ because every child deserves
care.
About the author : Albert Afeso Akanbi is a
Novelist, Researcher and Community worker. He
lives in Abuja, FCT, Nigeria and he is a
father. Twitter: @a_feso
