In an article published in December 2023 by World Affairs, the authors claimed that traditional beliefs and practices are fairly common in Togo. They showed that 53.5 per cent of the Togolese respondents/population sought help from traditional healers, 56.2 per cent of them claimed to have witnessed an exorcism, 71.4 per cent of them reported to believe in (the existence of) witchcraft, 79.4 per cent of them believed in some people’s ability to cast curses and 85.7 of them said to know someone who believed in voodoo.

The analysis – our analysis -of the responses collected from a much smaller sample in Agbodrafo paints a somewhat different picture. The percentage of Agbodrafo respondents seeing help from traditional healers was exactly 50 per cent–a mere 3.5 per cent less than what was reported in a previous study. The percentage of Agbodrafo respondents who believed in some people’s ability to cast curses was 70 per cent–a 9.4 per cent less than reported in the previous study. The percentage of Agbodrafo respondents reporting to have witnessed an exorcism was 36.6 per cent–that is 19.6 per cent less than what previous analyses had revealed for the country as a whole. Another difference worth noting is represented by the fact that the percentage of respondents who believe in (the existence of) witchcraft is 83.3 per cent–that is 11.9 per cent more than what previous studies had reported.

Less exorcism and more witchcraft belief. It could be an indication that Christianity here has been less pervasive than in other parts of the country. It could be an indication of the fact that here, of all places and for reasons unknown, traditional religions and beliefs were substantially more resilient.

it’ll be good to go back and try to find out