‘you can continue undressing but just know that today you are going to die …’ – voice of demon
By Emma Kakololo
WINDHOEK
Five families at Havana squatter camp in Katutura are living in fear after their houses were attacked with stones from an unseen hand in broad daylight and three homes were razed by a mysterious fire.
The families are attributing the incidents to a spirit that is haunting 15-year-old Anastasia Johannes.
The teenage girl has been living with her uncle Abisai Nghidileko, whose shack was gutted last Monday. This is the second time one of his shacks has caught fire; the first time was in April. Yesterday the “spirit” was apparently still throwing stones at the family.
When New Era visited the site on Friday, Johannes’s uncle alleged that she was paying for the sins of her mother Penehafo David and stepfather (only known as Mehas) who sourced help from a witchdoctor to become rich.
It turned out that for the juju to be effective the witchdoctor instructed the stepfather to kill the girl’s mother, which the stepfather refused to do.
“Now this has backfired. Never in my life has a family member approached a witchdoctor for wealth. This is the first time I hear of such a thing.
“The stepfather refused to kill her mother because he still loves her, now the ghost wants to kill the child,” alleged Johannes uncle.
Confirming the poltergeist activity, Johannes told New Era that shortly before their shack was mysteriously burned down on Monday, a ghostly voice told her that she too was going to die.
“It was after school and I was busy taking off my school uniform. While I was almost finished undressing I heard a voice in the room telling me, ‘you can continue undressing but just know that today you are going to die’.
“I looked around and was wondering where this voice was coming from since I was the only person in the shack. I ran outside and told my friends, but no one believed me. My kid sister also came from school and we went to fetch water (about five metres away from their house). On our way back we saw that the house was on fire.”
She said this was not the first time she heard the “ghostly voice”. The first time the “angry Oshiwambo-speaking voice”, seemingly that of a man, spoke to them was when she was living with her parents early this year.
“In the night we could not sleep. We would hear the same voice telling us, you are going to die today, and threw stones at our ‘kambashu’ (shack). Or sometimes it would be quiet but in the morning we would find sand and stones all over our blankets and also our food.
“If my mother prepared food for us, before we were about to eat, someone would put sand and stones on our plates. Although we could see how the sand was being picked up we could not see the person,” she said.
“Obviously, no human prankster could have possibly thrown the stones without being seen,” said her uncle.
“Now this spirit followed her to my house. The ‘thing’ is throwing us with stones. I don’t allow her to cook anymore because, first it started with her mother, now it is with her. It puts sand and stones in whatever she is cooking.”
He said they were now sleeping outside fearing for their lives after the fire. “First the spirit was throwing us with stones now it started burning our houses too. We lost everything in the fire as well as her schoolbooks and clothes. We sleep in the cold and don’t have enough blankets to keep us warm.”
Their neighbour Melania Lukas and her family have also been sleeping outside since their shack mysteriously burnt down in April. She claimed that her shack caught fire after Johannes spent a night there.
“The girl came to sleep at my house after the ‘thing’ burnt down their house the previous day at 4pm. The next day, at 4pm also, the ‘thing’ burned my ‘kambashu’ too. We lost all our belongings in the fire.
“We are also so scared to move into the new ‘kambashu’ we rebuilt. What if this spirit comes back and burns it again? We don’t want to wake up the next morning and find our children burnt to death.”
She said her baby got sick because of the cold nights outside.
Lukas shares her shack with her sister and her baby as well as her six children.
They are now calling for the church to release Johannes from witchcraft.
“If also I had money, I could take her to Owamboland where she can get help.
I am sure traditional doctors there could help her,” said Nghidileko.
He said Johannes’ mother got help from a traditional doctor but refused help for her daughter.
“Only her mother got treated because she knows what is going on. She knows of the place (witchdoctor) where they went to get rich. This is not allowed in our clan.”
David could not be reached for comment as she was apparently in Owamboland.
Johannes told New Era that she was unable to sleep at night, as she fears for her life and wishes that someone could help her out of her misery.
“I wish someone could make this spirit go away forever.”