- As Church Preaches Disability Inclusion
At least 16 people were killed and dozens more injured after lightning struck a Seventh-Day Adventist church in Rwanda, said a local official, INN reports from Source
Fourteen victims were killed on the spot as lightning hit the church in the Nyaruguru district in the Southern Province on Saturday, local mayor Habitegeko Francois told AFP over the phone and obtained by INN.
Two others died later from their injuries, he said.
He added that 140 people involved in the incident had been rushed to hospital and district health centres, but that many had already been discharged.
“Doctors say that only three of them are in critical condition but they are getting better,” he said.
According to the mayor, a similar accident took place on Friday when lightning struck a group of 18 students, killing one of them, INN gathered.
In another development, the Anglican Alliance’s Relief and Programmes Manager Dr Janice Proud shares on the work of the Church worldwide and what they can do to better promote inclusion of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs)
A key part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to leave no-one behind, so it is focusing on the role of SDGs in building a more inclusive and equal world for people with disabilities.
To achieve this the Church needs to be more deliberate and plan to do this, so that no-one is left behind in its relief and development work. But in fact this applies to all our church activities, so that everyone feels welcome and included in our churches. People with disabilities, like each of us, have gifts to share and needs to be met. Our churches and communities are missing out by not being sensitive to and inclusive of people with disabilities. We are missing out on their gifts and insights.
“The church has been doing very well with women and children,” says Mathilde Umuraza from an umbrella organisation for Disabled Persons Organisations (DPO) in Rwanda, “But we see again that the church does neglect people with disabilities in social programmes.”
She acknowledges that this may be unintentional, from a lack of knowledge or skills. As Sarah Kasule, Mothers’ Union provincial coordinator for Uganda, said, “The issue of inclusion … It is something that we have talked about before, but then it doesn’t happen, because actually the churches are quite inconvenient to come to for people with disabilities, so somehow when they are not there we don’t think of doing activities that include them.”
Mathilde Umuraza went on to say, “DPO and people with disabilities who are Christians and members of churches, we would like to call the church now to come to us and work with us so can have a new reinterpretation of the bible and the inclusion of people with disabilities in those programmes.”
“There is still a gap when you look at the way the church is handling disability,” Mathilde said. “People with disabilities are always lagging behind, and some practices and theological background will restrict people with disabilities from being fully active and involved in church.”, she concluded.
Inclusive News Network