He entered at eight. He is now 16: Ghana’s children growing up in prayer camps
At eight years old, Hafiz Abdallah was taken to Nyinbonya, a prayer camp in Paga, near Ghana’s border with Burkina Faso. He is now 16. For eight years, his mother says, her son has lived at the facility without a clinical diagnosis. When his behaviour becomes erratic, she says, he is chained. “He doesn't even speak, stands often in his own world,” she said. “But this helped me a lot because I am very much assured that he will not wander off and end up getting hurt or killed.” Hafiz became increasingly difficult to manage after the death of his twin brother. He destroyed things, once stole a neighbour's chicken and often attacked his mother.