Obanje

__What is an Obanje?__
An Obanje, or also known as an ogbanje, is a child that is born over and over again. It is born and then it dies only a few years later. An obanje child is basically like a miscarriage, but the Nigerians did not have the proper science and knowledge to know that it wasn't bad spirits. They believed that the kid was an evil spirit because it kept reappearing in the mother's stomach. The Iyi-uwa was the main cause behind the obanje's reappearance. It brought a lot of stress and anxiety to the families with obanje children. The child often times brought fear to the family, especially the mother. A lot of the causes for early deaths of these kids were due to sickle cell disease. The cause of sickle cell disease is from the obanje child's parents, not the child itself. Basically, an obanje child is a child that is born again and again and the Nigerians believed that the baby was a bad evil spirit. It is important because it will show up in the story, __Things Fall Apart__, and it is important because obanje children haunt their families for a long time.

__Other Facts on an Obanje Child__

 * The Medicine Man believed the only way to get rid of an obanje child was to cut up the dead child and bury it in the Evil Forest.
 * Some of the stronger obanje children survive the mutilation and came back.
 * Seventy percent of Obanje kids had sickle cell disease.
 * An Obanje is only considered an Obanje if it keeps reappearing in it's mother's stomach.



Works Cited [|Ogbanje Picture Link] [|Sickle Cell Disease Picture Link] [|Iyi-Uwa Picture Link] [] [] []