A woman using an energy efficient cookstove in Tanzania. Photo by: Russell Watkins / DFID / CC BY
November 17, 2020 – Three years ago, 66-year-old Christine Chizimu woke up to find a dead snake in front of her house in Kihumulo village in northwestern Tanzania. Soon afterward, her brothers accused her of being a witch, causing her to believe it was all orchestrated by her family in a bid to run her out of the village and grab her land.
But she said many people in the community were quick to believe these accusations because of her appearance.
Chizimu, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, has a full head of gray hair and bloodshot eyes. She said that at the time of the accusations, she could not see properly and would often stumble as she was walking or ask those she was speaking to to move closer so that she could recognize them.
“Many of the children in the village were already afraid of me, and they would say I am a witch and run away from me. When a family member came forward and accused me of witchcraft, many began to believe this as it was coming from within my family,” she said.
Though activists for the rights of older adults have largely succeeded in educating communities that symptoms — such as bloodshot eyes — are caused by smoke from cooking and not a sign that someone is a witch, emerging research has shown that the negative effects of smoke on the eyes may go beyond these traditional beliefs.
Household air pollution has been identified as a risk factor for cataracts, the number one cause of blindness in low- and middle-income countries. Experts called for improved access to modern energy cooking services to counter this and meet the clean-cooking target under Sustainable Development Goal 7.
Witchcraft in Tanzania
Although both witchcraft and accusing someone of practicing witchcraft are illegal in Tanzania, a Pew Research Center poll conducted in 2010 showed that more than 90% of Christians and Muslims, who make up nearly 97% of the population, believe in witchcraft.
According to HelpAge Tanzania, older women like Chizimu are often the targets of witchcraft accusations. Such accusations can lead to abuse from their families and community members and, in some cases, murder.
Joseph Mbasha, program manager at HelpAge Tanzania, said that most of these issues arose from perceptions and little understanding. In some areas, women were considered to be witches if they had bloodshot eyes, despite the fact that they spend a lot of time cooking using firewood or cow dung, which affects the eyes.
In response, the NGO, along with other civil society organizations and the government, initiated national awareness and sensitization training sessions with community members in various groups. Between 2014 and 2018, HelpAge Tanzania trained over 160,000 people in its project catchment area in the Lake Zone regions of Shinyanga, Mwanza, Simiyu, and Geita.
“The situation has really calmed down. It has almost normalized. We are now receiving very few cases of witchcraft killings. For the last year overall countrywide, we had 11 cases that were reported. In the previous year, we had 29, and the year before was 56, so it is really lowering down,” Mbasha said.
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