When Heidi Baker and her husband Rolland arrived in Mozambique in 1995, they walked into communities where generational poverty was not just economic — it was spiritual. Families had lived under the same curses for centuries: witch doctors held spiritual authority, animist rituals maintained cycles of fear and bondage, and poverty was accepted as an unchangeable inheritance. Children grew up believing they were cursed. Parents raised their children under the same spiritual oppression that had defined their parents' lives.
Curses Passed Down Like Land
In rural Mozambique, generational curses were spoken openly. Witch doctors would pronounce curses over families that would be feared and observed for generations. Children born under these curses were treated differently — avoided, blamed for misfortune, sometimes abandoned. The spiritual bondage and the physical poverty fed each other in a cycle that no development programme had been able to break. Aid organisations could provide food and medicine, but they could not touch the spiritual root.
Confronting Generational Darkness
Heidi and Rolland did not come with a development strategy. They came with Jesus. When they prayed for people in these communities, generational curses were broken. Not symbolically. Tangibly. Families who had lived under witch doctor curses for generations reported that the fear lifted. Children who had been rejected were adopted into Iris Global's network of homes. Sick people were healed. And the spiritual oppression that had kept entire communities in darkness for centuries lost its grip as the gospel spread from village to village.
Communities Transformed
What began with a handful of orphans grew into a movement that has planted over ten thousand churches across Mozambique and neighbouring nations. Entire communities that had been defined by generational spiritual bondage were transformed. The cycle of curses, poverty, and fear was replaced with hope, provision, and faith. Generational patterns that had persisted for centuries were dismantled not by programmes or policies, but by encounters with the living God.
What This Means for You
Heidi Baker's ministry in Mozambique shows that generational curses are not limited to individual families — they can grip entire communities and cultures. But the same Jesus who breaks a personal generational chain can shatter a communal one. No curse, no matter how old or how widely feared, can stand against the name of Jesus.