BRUTALLY EXORCISED: Unbelievable 50,000 'child witches' abandoned in Congo after 'failed exorcisms'

Innocent children thrown onto the street - believed to have the devil in them.

Tens of thousands of helpless children, some as young as only months old, are forced to endure exorcisms every day in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). If they are not "saved from evil" by the rituals, they are labeled "child witches" and are often thrown out of their homes to live on the streets.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Many with no idea what is going on, the children are held down, violently poked, forced to drink salt water, smeared with olive oil, and have fingers stuck down their throats by a Catholic priest, all in the name of ridding their little bodies of evil spirits.

"These witches they eat human flesh, they drink human blood," Father Alexis told MailOnline, explaining that exorcisms are a daily ritual in his church. "It is the work of the devil. Witchcraft kills the love within the child. It fills them with hate, it makes them eat their father, fight with their brother."

According to Father Alexis, witchcraft is a part of the Congolese culture and he has released thousands of children from the devil.

"We are Catholic missionaries so it is our duty to carry out exorcisms. We have a way to shoo away the sorcery, to chase away the demons," Father Alexis continued. "We tell the family not to throw their children out onto the street. We tell them to pray for the child."

However, that is rarely the case. The children who are not "saved" become abandoned by their families and left alone to survive in the violent DRC. According to MailOnline, it is estimated that up to 50,000 children have been accused of witchcraft and now fend for themselves in the slums of Congo, where 20 million people live.

"Witchcraft" has no age limit; some of the abandoned children are newborns and some are toddlers.

"There are conscious witches who know they are evil and unconscious witches who do not know but get up in the middle of the night and eat human flesh," stated Pastor Jean-Pierre Kwete, from the Laodice Church, Kinshasa. "I can tell if a child is a witch just by looking at them. I can see it in their eyes."

One young girl, referred to as Dorcas by the other children, is eight-years-old. When she was found by workers from a center dedicated to helping the street children her tiny body was covered in lice, fleas and ticks. A six-year-old boy, Malengeli, roams the streets, stick thin and covered in sores, begging for handouts.

"Children accused of witchcraft are subject to psychological violence, first by family members and their circle of friends, then by church pastors or traditional healers," a UNICEF study by Aleksander Cimpric, entitled Children Accused of Witchcraft, noted. "Once accused of witchcraft, children are stigmatized and discriminated against for life. Children accused of witchcraft may be killed, although more often they are abandoned by their parents and live on the streets."

The children are often accused of killing relatives by eating their flesh and drinking their blood. They are believed to cast spells that deliver death, illness, unemployment, pregnancy, debt and any other bad luck that happens to a family.

"Here in Central Africa every development within the family - a death, unemployment, bad school marks, and an unexpected pregnancy - demands an explanation," explained Remy Mafu, from the street children charity REEJER to MailOnline. "If there is no explanation then it is considered witchcraft."

"When my grandmother died they said it was my fault. They took me to a church where they pray for children. I was made to drink salt-water, lots of it. They stuck their fingers in my mouth, down my throat," expressed now 18-year-old Therese who suffers from epileptic episodes and has a large cyst on her forehead. "They wanted to take out pieces of my grandmother that they thought I had eaten. They couldn't find anything so they kept me and beat me.

This bump on my head is a cyst but in the church they told me it was where the witchcraft lived."

According to Mafu, this is common in poverty-stricken homes where people no longer want to take care of their children.

Although Congo embraced Catholic missionaries' modern medicine, education and religion into the nation long ago, the traditional ideas of sorcery remains. The current rise in the child-witchcraft phenomenon is credited to the breakdown of the traditional extended family, according to Professor Filip de Boeck, of Belgium's University of Leuven.

"Contrary to older forms, the witchcraft 'new style' is experienced as being wild, random and unpredictable," he stated.

Some families turn away from the Catholic or Evangelical "saviors" and turn to more ancient rituals to "rid their children of evil."

According to the street kid Care Center director, Claudine Nlandu, many of the abandoned girls become prostitutes and others turn to a life of crime. Despite the center's efforts to show the children a better life, some refuse the help.

"The government needs to educate the people that there are no such things as child witches," stated Nlandu.

"Ensuring these children lead healthy lives; are able to go to school; are allowed to participate fully in society and can be treated fairly," are set up as part of the United Nations' 17 sustainable development goals.

"UNICEF is particularly concerned about the issues of the most vulnerable children including children who suffer violence, abuse and exploitation," UNICEF spokesman Yves Willemot told MailOnline. "A change in attitudes about sorcery should be promoted by educating families, community leaders and working with accusers, church leaders and traditional religious practitioners."

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