Zambian man aims to "resurrect" faith-based disabled persons

Times of Zambia: Persons with disabilities the world over are associated with negative elements such as laziness, begging, dependence and other forms of stigmatisation.

Because of such stigmatisation, there has been thousands of articles, paper presentations and remedial proposals for the disabled persons to be empowered so that they can become economically independent.

This is not to mention the numbers of non-governmental organisations and Government programmes that have sprung up in the name of helping needy citizens like the disabled persons.

But none of these initiatives have been able to reach out to an institution where most of the disabled are, the church. This is why one Daniel Nsomekela, a disabled whose mobility is only by the aid of a wheel chair, led other disabled persons to form the National Christian Organisation for the Disabled (Nacodi).

Nsomekela says the idea to form the organisation came about because he identified the church as a place where the most needy disabled people run to for emotional support and hope for eternal future.

Editor: I've been communicating with Daniel for a few weeks. In one email he told me more about the plight of people with disabilities in his country --

African and Zambia fellow what the western believers most do, the church in Africa most of them have became so western in it's behavior but it has failed to implement social tenets that includes sanctity of disabled as human being. In [a] nutshell, the western do not propagate what it does to it's communities to our African Clergies who still live Christianity in one and Traditional of ignorance in the other - centered on secularism than embodiment of virtue of Jesus Christ.

The coming of Islam in the Southern Africa, has seen many underprivileged and the disabled are becoming forced Muslims because of their vulnerability. They go to Mosque on Fridays than on Sundays because Christians are too pretentious and uncaring, their hearts caroused especially in Zambia a Christian Nation since it was declared almost 20 years ago.

Our Preachers are more concern with the numbers of congregates and income it makes , off course these obvious excludes disabled who are by nature poor because of deliberate policies that does not uphold their bright.

The Disabled in Africa are considered demon possessed, most parents still hide their children from the public for fear of stigmatization - this painful thing, however it exist.