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The children are not safe here.

The Nigerian couple fighting infanticide by Adobitricia Mubani, read by Nekka Akoye.

Esther Stevens' life nearly ended as soon as it began.

She was born in 2007 in a village on the outskirts of a budge,

Nigeria's capital city. Her mother died giving birth to her, and in the eyes of some villages,

that meant the baby was cursed. According to tradition, there was only one way to deal with such a child.

The villagers tied the newborn to her mother's lifeless body and prepared to bury them together.

When Word reached a Nigerian missionary living in the community, she rushed to the burial site and pleaded for the baby's life.

After the villagers and relatives refused, she appealed to the traditional priest who had been called on to perform the right.

Finally, the priest agreed and said,

Let them give her the evil child and see what the child will become, Esther said.

The child, that's me. The missionary took Esther to a children's home in a

budger run by a Christian couple, Ulushola and Chimwe Stevens,

who brought her up as their own. Today, Esther is 18, tall with a broad smile. She laughs

easily and has a quick sense of humour. In Nigeria, children are widely regarded as gifts from God or the spirit world, but according

to some traditional belief systems, certain children were once thought to bring misfortune.

Children born with albinism, visible deformities or disabilities, were said to bring curses or

...