I recall some of my growing up years and how I would sing ‘dear mother’ from my heart while my mom watched and listened with the most gentle smile and eyes filled with love as I sang out to the best of my abilities.

Forgive my derailing but I wonder what must have been going on in the mind of 13-year-old Mercy Effiong while she was locked up by her own mother and being forced to eat her own faeces for survival.

Mercy Effiong is a native of Oron, Akwa Ibom State and was living with her mother and other members of her family.

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However, Mercy Effiong was subjected to inhuman treatment by her mother who locked her up in a toilet and a dark, isolated room for years because a prophet allegedly told her the girl was possessed.

Mercy Effiong who was rescued by Child’s Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) was deprived of food and made to eat her own faeces to survive.

Read the report below:

“#13YearsOldGirl Locked Up in The Toilet

“This is Mercy Effiong, a 13 years old girl who was locked up in a toilet and a dark, isolated room for years before she was rescued to the CRARN Children Centre, Eket, Nigeria.

“The mother tortured and neglected her as results of a spurious claim by her church prophet that she was possessed by demon. She was deprived of foods and hardly given the needed nutrition to survive. She ended up eating her own faeces at some points to survive.

“Consequent upon this, Mercy suffered from malnutrition and became badly emaciated and almost died before her rescue.

“The cruel manner which children like this are treated is unheard of, unimaginable and pathetic.”

Mercy is from Oron, Akwa Ibom State, the epicentre of children stigmatization. She’s one of few lucky children who have survived this horrific treatment.