Hope is the Nigerian toddler whose photo shocked the world in early 2016: a tiny, starving boy, naked and alone, drinking from a water bottle held by a Danish aid worker. He had been cast out by his family, who believed he was a witch, and survived on the streets for months. Within about eight weeks of his rescue he was eating, smiling and playing with other children, and a year later he was healthy and starting school. Here is his story, what happened next, and the wider problem of children accused of witchcraft that it exposed.
The rescue that went viral
At the end of January 2016, Anja Ringgren Lovén, a Danish aid worker who runs a children's charity in southern Nigeria, was told about a small boy wandering alone near a village. He was severely malnourished, his belly swollen with worms, and he was believed to be about two years old. Local people said his parents had abandoned him after deciding he was a witch, and that he had been fending for himself for around eight months, surviving on scraps that passers-by gave him.
Lovén crouched down, offered him water and some food, and wrapped him in a cloth. She later described finding him in the village naked, alone and close to death. The moment was photographed, and Lovén posted the picture on Facebook to raise money for his care. It spread around the world within days, and she named the boy Hope.
Lovén carried him to her vehicle surrounded by curious children from the village. Many of them were not much older than Hope, which shows how unusual and frightening it was for him to have been left completely on his own.
On the drive to hospital, Hope lay curled in the cloth, so thin that his ribs showed through his skin. He was treated for severe malnutrition and parasitic worms.
Eight weeks later
About two months after the rescue, Lovén shared new pictures. The change was striking: Hope sat up in a small red chair in a blue T-shirt and patterned trousers, alert and filled out, staring curiously at the camera. Thousands of people had donated after seeing the first photo, and the money paid for his treatment and helped the charity's wider work.
Here he grins while pulling himself up on a chair on a colourful play mat. For a child who had spent months alone, simply being safe, fed and surrounded by people made a visible difference.
A close-up shows Hope in a pink top holding a red balloon, his face calmer and fuller than in the first photos. Lovén noted that he was now living with 35 other rescued children at the charity's home, who played with him and looked after him.
A new family of 35 brothers and sisters
Older boys at the children's home sit with Hope on a doorstep, showing him a picture book. Many of them had arrived with similar stories: accused of witchcraft, rejected by relatives and left to fend for themselves.
A carer holds Hope on his lap with a book while two other boys lean in. Being read to, spoken with and held is part of the recovery for children who have suffered neglect, not only the medical treatment.
Hope and another toddler sit together on the lap of a young man in a football shirt. Lovén said the other children made sure he was safe and loved, and the pictures support her description.
Ordinary moments became part of daily life, such as this haircut on the porch, with Hope wrapped in a green cape while one of the older boys trims his hair.
And play: Hope joins a group of children around a pile of toy bricks and trucks. Lovén wrote that she would let the pictures speak for themselves, and they do.
Lovén holds Hope on her hip, smiling down at him. He had a second health issue to deal with: doctors found he had hypospadias, a birth condition in which the opening of the urethra is not at the tip of the penis. It is fairly common, affecting about 1 in 150 boys born in the United States, and is usually corrected with surgery in early childhood.
A year later: healthy and off to school
On the first anniversary of the rescue, in late January 2017, Lovén posted a new photo of Hope recreating the famous image: healthy and tall, wearing a red jumper and a backpack, taking a drink of water. CBS News reported in February 2017 that he was about three years old and starting school that week, and that he lived with dozens of other children at the orphanage run by Lovén and her husband, David Emmanuel Umem, in Eket, Nigeria. Lovén summed up the lesson in one line: Where there is love there is hope.
Why children are branded as witches
Hope's story was not a one-off. In parts of southern Nigeria, especially Akwa Ibom and Cross River states, thousands of children have been accused of witchcraft. Campaigners estimated in 2009 that about 15,000 children had been accused over a decade in those two states alone, many of them abandoned, beaten or worse.
UNICEF links these accusations to urbanisation, poverty, conflict and communities breaking apart. When a family suffers illness, death or financial disaster, a child, often one who is disabled, orphaned or simply "different", can be blamed. Some self-styled pastors have made things worse by preaching about child witches and charging families for exorcisms, during which children have been chained, starved or attacked. Religious films spreading the idea have deepened the fear.
Nigerian and international groups, including Stepping Stones Nigeria and Safe Child Africa, campaign against the practice, run safe houses and work with families and churches to challenge the belief. Activists have also faced threats for speaking out.
The woman who rescued him
Anja Ringgren Lovén was born in Frederikshavn, Denmark, in 1978. After a period working in retail, she spent three months in Malawi in 2009 as an observer for a Danish aid organisation, which changed the direction of her life. In 2012 she founded the Danish charity DINNødhjælp, now known as Land of Hope, and in 2014 she and David Emmanuel Umem co-founded the African Children's Aid Education and Development Foundation in Nigeria. The organisation went on to build the Land of Hope Children's Center in Akwa Ibom, with a clinic, school facilities and homes for up to 100 children.
In 2016 the magazine OOOM named her "the world's most inspiring person". The attention Hope's photo brought helped fund a clinic for accused children and land for the new centre, turning one rescue into lasting help for many more.
Sources: CBS News: One year later, Nigerian "witch boy" healthy, headed to school (February 2017); Wikipedia: Anja Ringgren Lovén; Wikipedia: Witchcraft accusations against children in Africa; CDC: About hypospadias; African Children's Aid Education and Development Foundation (Facebook). Photos: Anja Ringgren Lovén / ACAEDF, first compiled by Bored Panda.
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