Accused Of Sorcery And Murdered In Public: Papua New Guinea Grapples With Violence

By Durrie Bouscaren

Published May 21, 2018 at 2:14 PM EDT

People crowd into a church in the town of Henganofi in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea for a meeting to end violence resulting from sorcery accusations. In the Eastern Highlands, the accusation of sorcery is a vigilante's rallying cry. Nationally, it's believed to be responsible for dozens of deaths every year.

The South Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea is grappling with a spate of attacks on people accused of sorcery. The government is trying to deal with the problem. But traditions die hard.

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Durrie Bouscaren

Durrie Bouscaren is a general assignment reporter, based in Des Moines. She covers breaking stories, economic news, and reports from the Statehouse during the legislative session. Bouscaren joined IPR in March of 2013 as a one-woman bureau in Cedar Rapids. Her passion for public radio began in high school, when she would listen to BBC World Service newscasts in the middle of the night. While attending Syracuse University, she reported and produced local news for member station WAER, and received a statewide Associated Press Broadcasters Association award for a report on Syracuse’s Southern Sudanese community. Bouscaren also covered Syracuse and small towns throughout Central New York as a stringer for WRVO Public Media. Her work has aired on NPR's All Things Considered, WBEZ's Front and Center and KQED's The California Report. Bouscaren's favorite public radio program is Planet Money. dbouscaren@stlpublicradio.org | Twitter

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