The Outcast System Elimination Project

By the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights … and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” Mutual respect is therefore key to it. Where a group of people are set aside and brazenly discriminated against is therefore unacceptable. Such is the case being practiced in Igbo land in Nigeria where humans are classed as Freeborn or Outcasts, with the so-called outcasts considered as lower class.

The woes of the so-called outcasts are many folds resulting in stigma and discrimination. They still live apart in the traditional communities. There are no inter-marriages between the so-called freeborn and the so-called outcasts. No community will appoint the so-called outcasts as their Traditional Ruler no matter how wealthy or educated they may be. There are many other similar woes. These persisting aspects will hardly die without a deliberate effort to eliminate them. All the foregoing clearly demonstrates man’s inhumanity to man, designed in ignorance and being perpetuated in ignorance.

Looking at the processes by which people became outcasts, it is very clear that they have nothing to do with anything that is inborn in man. They were completely artificial and man-made, driven by ignorance and superstition, sometimes encouraged by fear factor associated with the deities the so-called outcasts were supposed to be serving. What we know today makes us believe that those superstitions and fears are baseless and of no consequence. I have always said it that ignorance is a far greater problem to the society than poverty.

Many proponents of the Outcast System claim that it is a part of our customs and tradition. I refer them to many of our old customs and traditional practices which have since been abandoned. Think of the killing of twins, use of human heads to bury important persons, the reincarnation theory, the ogbanje belief, non-education of the girl child and female genital mutilation, among others.

Medical Science has shown the feasibility of taking parts from one person to heal another. For this to be successful, the parts must match perfectly between the donor and the recipient. Such parts include the kidney, liver, heart, bone marrow, and the most common, blood. For blood, for instance, blood group must match completely. Two siblings may not necessarily have the same blood group and where they don’t, they cannot help each other in case there is a need for blood transfusion to either of them. It is proven that where the blood of the so-called outcast matches that of the so-called freeborn, their blood is fully interchangeable. Then I ask, “If, as a so-called freeborn, your sibling’s blood cannot save you but the blood of the so-called outcast can save you, then, technically speaking, who are you more related with?”

The Outcast System is a creation of pagan religion. As Christians, we all proclaimed that we have abandoned paganism at baptism or at the point we professed Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. As we continue to uphold the Outcast System, are we telling the truth or are we involved in self-deceit when we still hold on tightly to pagan relics, such as the Outcast System?

The Outcast System is persisting in this day and age simply because it is not affecting everybody. Notice the ease with which those obnoxious customs and traditions that affected everybody was abandoned. Most of those not affected are simply indifferent to the plight of those affected – a situation that cannot be allowed to continue! The Outcast System is just a matter of mindset.

Previous efforts to eradicate the Outcast System through Government laws and pronouncements from Church pulpits have not succeeded. If nothing is done differently, those efforts are not likely to ever stop it. The book, Love and Stigma: The Outcast System, is just the way forward to end that primitive system through education of the people on what it is and what it is not.

Despite the absolute similarity of the so-called outcasts to the so-called freeborn today, the stigma and discrimination that demarcate the two still remain intact. More therefore needs to be done so that both sides of the divide can merge without any visible trace of the line of partition. The project book here is my first step in that direction as it tries to view the problem from different perspectives – as a scientist, a Christian and a village-grown person. Albert Einstein said, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” He added, “Those who are privileged to know have a duty to act.” We are now enlightened enough to do something differently from our forefathers and cannot continue to live with the mistakes they made. In this day and age, we cannot afford to do nothing.

My understanding and present belief as it concerns the Outcast System is a new light among my people. I need to show that light to them and to the world! I have made efforts to try to find any acceptable bases for the discrimination against the so-called outcasts without success. From Science, Christian Religion and Sociology, one could only find incontrovertible similarities between the so-called freeborn and the so-called outcasts and no visible differences at all in what makes both of them man. This fact has to be taken to the people in a form they will clearly understand. That is the basis for The Outcast System Elimination Project, which is the product of my thought processes that spanned fifty years. It is being driven by Adolphus Ekejiuba Foundation. Read the book first and you may then argue from a point of knowledge.

It is time to stand up for human rights!

It is time to stop the Outcast System!

• Stop Discrimination
• Stop Stigmatization
• Stop Modern Slavery
• Stop Man’s Inhumanity to Man

You have a role to play. Help spread the word by telling people about this project. Buy copies of the book, Love and Stigma: The Outcast System and distribute to our youths and people who could not afford it – in schools, churches, communities, etc. Stir up discussions with people on this topic to create an opportunity to tell them what they should know, different from what our forefathers told us. Join the Foundation as a member and/or a volunteer. Visit our website: www.AdolphusEkejiubaFoundation.org, where the book is available at a discount.

Read here the Book Reviews.

Sir. Adolphus O.M. Ekejiuba, KSJI.

Chief Executive Officer,

Adolphus Ekejiuba Foundation.

www.AdolphusEkejiubaFoundation.org

www.AdolphusEkejiuba.net