As the global Covid-19 pandemic hits hard, WAVE deemed it fit to engage with three communities in the West Coast Region (Sintet, SIbanor and Jamburr) in April and Essau in the North Bank Region in May where the witch hunt campaigns were majorly conducted in 2009 by the former president Jammeh and his enablers. The WAVE team met with witch hunt victims, both male and female, to render its support to them in these times of dire need by donating food items.

The team also took the opportunity engage in dialogue with the victims, the Village Development Committee (VDC) and village heads (Alkalos), about the impact of the witch hunt campaigns on their lives, families and communities. The need for programs to aid in individual and community healing of the victims were widely discussed as were possibilities of reconciliation with ‘enablers’ living in their communities. WAVE gained first-hand information on the longing for individual healing – not only physically, but also psychologically, to foster sustainable social cohesion in communities impacted by the witch hunt campaigns. A number of witch hunt victims continue to face some degree of stigma in communities they live in.

The team was also informed of the need for Women’s Support Groups in the localities visited which will serve as a platform for women victims to amplify their voices, act as a support network for each other and be empowered to break the culture of silence affecting women in our societies.