These two stories are the accounts of what happened at the "witch court" according to two of our Hewa Church leaders. Thank you all so much for your interest and prayers for these women and children. Many of them are our neighbors and precious friends. Please continue to pray for all Hewa women marked as witches and for God's Word to change the hearts and beliefs of the Hewa people!
Faimpat Stood by Jonathan Kopf
Court case #1
The Paiela men who are threatening
many Hewa women and children have set their sights on the two sisters
Kentam and Sopam. Their mother had been murdered as a “witch” and then
later their brothers were also killed for the
same reason. Since their last brother’s death in 2010, their uncle Iso
has helped them move from one place to another in the mountains, hoping
to spare their lives. During that time a man named Nelison took both
sisters as his wives and since then a few children
have been born while they were on the run.
Most of the men that are hungry to
kill the two sisters and their children did not consent to come to the
court session held in Fiyawena, but the judges decided to allow Iso to
present the cause of his nieces who are currently
in hiding. Iso has never shown interest in things of the Bible so he
began his argument in the traditional way, with a history lesson to
shift blame from the two sisters back to the Paiela people. He said,
“The Paiela men keep saying sicknesses and deaths
in their villages are caused by my clan, but the fact is it all started
when a Paiela woman named Akak gave human flesh disguised as sweet
potato to a Hewa woman named Patiyopoya. The Hewa woman unwittingly ate
the flesh and immediately became possessed by
an evil spirit who caused much sickness and death. Patiyopoya in turn
later did the same thing, giving human flesh to another unsuspecting
Hewa woman, who in turn did the same thing, which happened again until
eventually Kentam and Sopam’s mother became spirit
possessed. Subsequently she and her other children were murdered as
witches. So you see the reason the two young ladies are now being
accused by Paiela men is because much earlier one of their own woman
started this whole mess. The Paiela men cannot blame
my two nieces when the problem originated with them.”
The two government appointed court
officials from Porgera listened to the case and heard the rebuttals of
the few Paiela men who were present and after several hours of
discussion made this offer to Iso. “We don’t really know
what to say about this case but if you pay an additional 200 Kina to us
we will write an official document that will make it a crime for anyone
to murder the two ladies. If the men choose to ignore the document they
will face time in jail.”
The Paiela men who were present were
not happy and contested the idea saying they had a right to avenge the
deaths of the people of their village and to stop future deaths by
killing the women. They said that the court had
no business interfering by making it illegal to kill the women.
The court officials stood their
ground and said that if the Paiela wished to contest their decision they
could later bring the case to a higher level court in Porgera. Iso was
pleased with the outcome and purchased the court
document in hopes that it will save the lives of his nieces and their
children.
So, was this a victory for
righteousness and justice? Iso may have bought a little extra time for
the sisters and their children but I have lived with the Hewa long
enough to know that when a few more people get sick and die,
in the Paiela villages, of sicknesses such as malaria or pneumonia, the
Paiela men will become enraged and kill the women in an effort to stop
future sicknesses and deaths. The court document will not change their
belief system and threat of jail will not
curb their desire to kill women, and it certainly won’t stop them from
using death threats as a way to steal Hewa land.
Court case #2
Waina and Yanis’ account of the next
court session provided me with a little more hope for the future safety
of Hewa women. Not long ago the Paiela men chose to blame a girl named
Loreme for a few recent deaths. When she learned
of these accusations she was so afraid of being murdered she deflected
their accusations by pointing to a different young lady named Yamene
saying, “Everyone knows she is a witch, so quit looking at me.” As
pressure increased for Loreme her accusations of
Yamene increased until she was leading a, “Get rid of Yamene,” crusade.
Many Paiela men decided to join Loreme’s line of logic and even a few
Hewa men jumped on board, calling for Yamene’s execution.
When this case was brought before the
two judges who had arrived from the town of Porgera, they questioned
Loreme as to why she was accusing Yamene. “Did you see an evil spirit?”
they asked. “Do you have some sort of proof
she is actually possessed?”
Loreme was unable to speak in the
presence of the judges. She was so scared by having been pulled into
court that after a little stammering and stuttering she got up to leave
among ripples of laughter.
The older of the two judges named Evan, spoke up. “Everyone is so eager to murder women and children.”
The group who had gathered to listen became quiet.
“You are acting like ignorant heathens.”
He had everyone’s attention.
“I realize that us Paiela people and
you Hewa people share the common practice of killing spirit possessed
people, but that was before we started attending church. Earlier you
villagers hadn’t heard about God but now that
your missionary arrived you need to quit killing your witches. Instead,
bring them to church. Jesus didn’t kill people who were possessed by
spirits and He didn’t tell His disciples to kill them. Instead he sent
the evil spirits into pigs so the possessed
people would recover. You need to bring the possessed people to church
to let God help them rather than to kill them.”
That’s when the young man Faimpat,
who normally resides in our village, jumped to his feet unable to
contain himself any longer. “You all act as if you have no
understanding,” he said, pointing around to the crowd. “God gave
us missionaries to teach us that if we turn to God we don’t have to be
afraid of the spirit realm but you have continued to hold stubbornly to
your ancestral ways,” he said, his face a deep crimson. “You are bent on
killing women like your fathers and grandfathers
did, and not one of you speaks up for the truth of God’s Word, only
this judge is bold enough to remind you of stories from the Bible. You
should be ashamed!”
No one objected and it was clear
Faimpat was just getting started. He was still unmarried and because of
his youth did not carry much weight among the clans but his zeal for the
Lord had not gone unnoticed since he left the
witch doctors school in 2008 and surrendered his life to Jesus. “The
missionary showed us from Mark five and nine that our ancestors were
deeply mistaken when they told us our mothers and sisters were possessed
by spirits, and that even if they were possessed
we were not to kill them, but instead ask for the power of Jesus to set
them free. He started teaching us those things years ago, and yet here
we are still killing and planning to kill our own family members. Each
one of you men should be deeply ashamed that
you listen to these accusations instead of crushing them with the truth
that we have now heard from God’s book.”
According to Waina and Yanis, Faimpat
continued for quite a while, calling for people to turn from the
beliefs of the ancestors in order to save the lives of their own family
members. A few of the other believers also joined
in, supporting the Biblical concepts that are so foreign to the tribal
way of thinking.
In the end, the court
officials ruled on behalf of Yamene and demanded that Loreme and her
Paiela relatives pay 500 Kina as an apology to Yamene. The judges also
said that the Hewa who had joined Loreme in her
accusations were to pay four pigs to settle the dispute.
“When you have paid the money and
pigs, you are never to blame Yamene for sickness and death, do you
hear?” the judge said. “These accusations have to stop here and now.”
Thank you for joining us in prayer
for the sake of the Hewa women and children who are being accused of
causing sicknesses and deaths. We realize this culture has been held in
the grip of Satan’s lies since the beginning of
their time and it will take years for the truth of God’s Word to spread
to all the Hewa hamlets and villages to help change their way of
thinking, but we believe that as you, God’s children, call out to Him to
transform hearts, the old strongholds will fall.
Please continue to pray that believers like Faimpat, Waina, and Yanis
will be bold to speak for righteousness and that God’s Spirit will
revolutionize this culture so that instead of the men killing women and
children they will become preachers of righteousness
who will bring these next generations safely into God’s family."
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| Faimpat teaching in church |
