Posts Tagged ‘Disability Inclusion’
Disability-Inclusive Development: How the Church Can Answer the Call
“So also we are many persons. But in Christ we are one body. And each part of the body belongs to all the other parts. We all have gifts. They differ according to the grace God has given to each of us.” — Romans 12:5-6
Saying Yes to Wisdom
When the Kanombo Church of Central Africa Presbyterian in Malawi made a call for volunteer Sunday school teachers, they did not consider Wisdom Shaba as a viable candidate. Wisdom, after all, was blind. Having suffered from a skin disease that affected his eyes, he lost his sight at the age of five.
But God had bigger plans for Wisdom.
His church, which is a member of one of World Relief’s church networks in Northern Malawi, had agreed to participate in a disability inclusion training conducted by World Relief.
Wisdom attended the training along with other members of the congregation, and it was there that he learned of the need for Sunday school teachers and volunteered himself.
“Despite my disability,” Wisdom said, “I always tell people in my community not to ignore me in other things they feel I can get involved in. I went to school. I speak good English. So, why not involve me?”
Made in the Image of God
At World Relief, we believe every person is created in the image of God and has inherent value — including those with disabilities. And yet, in communities across the globe, people like Wisdom are often pushed to the edges of society and face significant barriers to participating in their communities and accessing critical care.
This lack of inclusion can increase their risk of poverty, violence, social and familial stressors, illness and even death. As a result, people with disabilities represent some of the most marginalized, making up 20% of the world’s poorest in developing countries.
While the statistic is staggering, we believe the church has a role to play in closing the gap on disability inclusion. We believe the church is called to be a place where people with disabilities are not only served, but also valued and included in all programmatic and worship activities.
After all, Jesus himself spent much of his time on earth serving and fellowshipping with people with disabilities. He calls his church to do the same.
“When you give a banquet,” Jesus said in Luke 14, “ invite the crippled, the lame, the blind.”
That’s why, in 2019, World Relief piloted disability-inclusive programming through our Church Empowerment Zone initiative in Malawi.
What is Disability-Inclusive Development?
Disability-inclusive development ensures that people with disabilities are able to access and participate in development activities in the same way as persons without disabilities. It is not a separate program, rather World Relief staff, local church leaders and community members receive training that:
- helps church leaders understand the prevalence and impact of disability in their communities
- ensures active involvement of people with disabilities in all phases of a project
- assists church and community leaders in identifying and removing physical, communication, policy and attitudinal barriers to participation in program activities
The fruit of this work has not only brought dignity and restoration to people with disabilities but has also empowered members of the body of Christ to better serve people with disabilities. Through the pilot program alone, more than 400 people with disabilities were reached by the church network.
“World Relief came and opened our eyes to see the most vulnerable among us — people with disabilities…” said one church leader. “We have whole-heartedly embraced [Jesus’] call to care for people with disabilities in our communities.”
An Inclusive World
After Wisdom volunteered to teach Sunday school, the leaders of his church organized a practice session where Wisdom taught a lesson to two children. He used a small book to teach on the topic “guiding children to the Savior.”
Everyone was amazed at the skill with which he explained spiritual truths to the children.
“God creates ways for me to do things that people don’t expect me to do because I am blind.” Wisdom said. “People don’t involve me in community gatherings because they always judge that I cannot do so. But I thank God because He blessed me with this disability I have. I strongly believe that this disability is not a curse.”
Reverend Mphatso Chidothe, who helped facilitate the disability inclusion training at Wisdom’s church shared that he has “realized that disability is not inability.”
“I am pleased with Wisdom for his time management, active participation and his performance throughout the training. I look forward to visiting him at his church one day,” Reverend Chidothe said.
By working through the local church, we are creating communities where people with disabilities are included as active and valuable participants in their communities. Church members come to learn that people with disabilities are not just there to be served, but also have God-given gifts and abilities that they can bring to serving others as well.
Since the programming was piloted in Malawi, World Relief has expanded disability-inclusive programming to church networks in Burundi and Rwanda, and now plans to train churches in six more countries where World Relief works as funds become available.
By removing barriers to participation, we are making way for entire communities to be transformed as the gifts of each and every person are recognized and given space to shine for the glory of God.
Together, we are going further to reach more people through more churches than ever before. Will you join us?
Muhlabase Ziba joined World Relief in August 2019. She works as the Families for Life and Child Development Field Coordinator in Malawi’s Mzimba District where she develops programs, coordinates with stakeholders, conducts trainings and collects stories of impact. She is passionate about helping children build self esteem, strengthening couple relationships and providing neglected children with the psychosocial support they need. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with the children in her own life and watching the Wildlife National Geographic channel.
Rachel Clair is a Content Manager at World Relief. Alongside an amazing team of marketing colleagues, she manages the curation and creation of written and multi-media content for World Relief’s global platforms. With more than 10 years of experience creating content for churches and non-profits, she is passionate about developing content that challenges both individuals and communities to lean into all of whom God created them to be. She holds a BFA from Stephens College and is currently participating in a spiritual formation cohort through the Transforming Center in Wheaton, IL.
Veronica Kaitano serves as the Gender Equality Social Inclusion Technical Advisor with the World Relief’s Programs Resources Team. Through her work, Veronica supports World Relief’s country offices in ensuring the integration of a gender and social inclusion approach within programming and acts as the global technical lead for supporting implementation and continued growth of World Relief’s couple strengthening model Families for Life, with a specific emphasis on disability inclusion.
Unseen Hope
As we round the corner of 2020 toward the end of the year, we’re bringing you more made-for-change stories from across the World Relief community.
Today, Amberle Brown, World Relief’s MEL Advisor and Disability Inclusion Focal Point at World Relief, shares her story of living with a disability and how God is using her experience to bring disability inclusion training to World Relief’s global programs. Amberle’s story reminds us that change hopes because God is faithful.
A Lost Dream
The warm breeze carried the voices of the practicing church choir through the window of our office. I was sitting in a circle with a dozen of my colleagues in Burundi, discussing our plans to reach people with disabilities with the health, child development and economic development programming in our nearby Church Empowerment Zone. This was the life I had hoped for since I was a child, but I had no idea of the hopelessness I would have to endure to get here.
When I was seven, I told my parents (to their horror) that I wanted to be a martyr when I grew up. Eventually, I toned that down and declared that I wanted to be a missionary when I grew up. From that young age, all the decisions I made were centered on my goal of becoming a missionary: I became a nurse as an avenue to serve in closed countries, I spent summers abroad, I even refused to date boys who didn’t also want to be missionaries.
But a few weeks after I turned 21, I was admitted to a burn ICU for toxic epidermal necrolysis (TENS) – an extremely rare allergic reaction that affects 1 in 2.5 million people – and kills one in three who have it. There is no established treatment for TENS – doctors must sit by as the patient’s body attacks itself, causing skin and organs to lose their linings like a burn.
Over the next month, I lost 95% of my skin and the lining of organs including my lungs and eyes. As my flesh melted away, so did my hopes of being a missionary in a remote part of the world. By God’s grace, I hardly remember any of that month, as a machine forced air into my decaying lungs and artificial bandages served as the barrier between me and the world. When I left the hospital, my eyes were severely scarred, making the world a blur.
And though I could see people like shadows, I was left with a much deeper pain – a pain of not understanding why God would give me a dream and then take away what I felt was my ability to fulfill that dream as I envisioned it.
Pieces of Hope
As I learned how to live with a disability, I also discovered more about the global situation of people with disabilities: Around the world, people with disabilities are twice as likely to live in poverty; they are more likely to be hungry, have poor health, lack education and be victims of violence; and only 5% of the 1 billion people with disabilities in the world have ever heard the gospel.
And yet, because of physical, communication and attitudinal barriers, people with disabilities are far more likely to be left out of the very efforts intended to foster their thriving.
But in these seemingly hopeless discoveries, God began to restore broken pieces of my hope. For the first time I noticed a Jesus who stopped in his tracks for people with disabilities over and over in the gospels. I learned that my vision loss in fact made it easier for me to rely on God rather than my independence. And I found that my disability itself allowed me to notice and break down barriers that most of us overlook.
My experience with disability propelled me and my team to look more closely at World Relief’s efforts to tackle the world’s biggest problems, to assess and dismantle barriers that might have kept people with disabilities from benefiting from our programs, and to partner with pastors to address harmful beliefs and stigma about disability in the countries where we work.
Bringing Hope to Others
Over the past 18 months, Disability Inclusion (DI) has become integral to World Relief’s mission and strategy. Early emphasis in this work has been focused on understanding the contexts where we work, preparing DI tools and equipping staff to begin DI integration in programs.
In total, we’ve engaged more than 3,400 individuals around DI issues, helping change their perspectives and beliefs about people with disabilities, and guiding them on the journey to understand, identify, serve and treat people with disabilities as men and women made in the image of God.
This work has been piloted across several of our programs in Burundi and Malawi, where 693 local leaders have been reached with DI messaging. Our Parenting for Life couple facilitators have also been taught to better understand the unique needs and constraints that parents of children with disabilities face.
Likewise, 1,966 parents (754 in Burundi and 1,212 in Malawi) have been introduced to a new way of thinking around disabilities, helping them change the way they interact with and treat their children, especially those with disabilities. Many have shifted their mindset as a result of these programs; while they might have previously thought that having a disabled child is a curse from God, they now know to celebrate and support children with differing needs and abilities.
Finally, DI is beginning to inform projects on the ground, the decision-making process, and how we meet the needs of our beneficiaries. In Malawi, for example, a project team focused on improving sanitation conditions within schools worked with children with disabilities in the design of latrines to ensure these facilities would be disability-friendly. These are just a few of the exciting initiatives that are beginning to take shape across our international programming.
Today, I thank God for my disability. I thank God that in my vision loss he has given me a new vision for a world where people with disabilities are embraced by the Church, included in development efforts, and valued by their communities. The winds of hope have come over me afresh. I see redemption coming both in my own life, and in the lives of 1 billion other people with disabilities because real Hope is not based on what we see, but on what we don’t yet see.
“For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees? But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.” Romans 8:24-25
When you give to World Relief, you support programs and initiatives like our Disability Inclusion work in Malawi and Burundi. Join us in bringing transformation to the world’s most vulnerable.
Amberle Brown is the monitoring, evaluation, and learning advisor for WR’s USAID-funded community-based RMNCH work and World Relief’s Disability Inclusion Point Person. Her personal experience with vision loss sparked her passion for disability inclusion, which has led her to work with World Relief to promote disability inclusion across all program sectors and to co-found The Banquet Network, an organization that equips churches to include people with disabilities. Amberle holds an MSN and MPH from Johns Hopkins University and a BSN from Texas Christian University.