Her practice as a traditional healer was so profitable, she was able to loan money to neighbors in need. When lightening struck her village in 1990, rival healers, even jealous relatives, pointed to her as the cause. Instead they allowed her, her three children, and husband to flee. A sympathetic chief later allowed Ms. Rasesemola and other accused witches to settle on this particularly inhospitable plot far from the nearest paved road. More than 100 adults - all of them suspected of being associated with witchcraft now call Helena home.
Every village has at least one.
Meanwhile, South Africa's House of Traditional Leaders is struggling to write a new law that will ban both the practice of witchcraft and the pointing out of witches. But I can tell you that it will be very difficult to prove something like this. In a court of law you need evidence.