The methodology I used for distributing and collecting the questionnaires was a dynamic one and differed from one group to another.
Protestant church leaders and religion lecturers (PCR) (including the Presbyterian Church leaders) were interviewed collectively. As I stated in chapter 1, this group was a discussion group, with the members selected according to the availability. I used the opportunity of their annual meeting which was held in “Centre Shaumba” (a Protestant Conference Centre) in Kinshasa, DRC to discuss the procedure of the interview with them; they first wrote down their responses and then discussed them. This interview was done one week before Bible studies with Presbyterian Church leaders taken place. We spent 30 minutes for this process.
With the Catholic high school students, I conducted individual interviews at their school, the
“National Institute for Blind People” in Kinshasa, DRC. The process involved questions and responses, recording of their responses and discussion of these.388 This happened two weeks after the Bible studies sessions with IMAN’ENDA members.
7.2.1 Interview with Protestant Church leaders and religion lecturers
I printed out and distributed 20 questionnaires and all of these were returned to me. Thus, I worked with 20 respondents, namely 15 male and 5 female pastors.
I present the responses as a percentage (20 respondents represent 100%).
Question 1.What do you understand by disability? Or what do you think when you meet a person with a disability? Twelve male pastors or 60% of respondents indicated their negative perception of disability in the following terms:
“Pity” – “suffering” – “difficult” – “useless person” – “forsaken person” – “problematic” –
“sick person and killjoy person”.
388 To ensure the consistently accurate recording of the sessions I used a tape recorder for all interviews whether conducted collectively or individually. I was assisted by one person who transcribed the responses.
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Three female and two male pastors, in total five persons or 25% of the respondents, expressed their positive perception as follows:
-Feel compassion – see God’s creation – feel like giving assistance– need to help – touched to see PWDs.
Two women pastors and one male pastor, a total of three persons or 15 % of the respondents did not respond to this question.
Question 2, How do you refer to a person with a disability in your mother tongue? The responses given to this question revealed different concepts of disability in different African cultures and ethnicities within the DRC. The question was posed to church leaders because they represented different ethnic groups in the DRC. These are some of their reactions (the full reports see in annexure No 1):
From the western DRC come the terms:
-Nkiadi, which means suffering and relates to all kinds of disability;
-Bandoki, wizards, meaning disability as a problem or a curse.
From the capital, Kinshasa the following terminology was reported:
-Kizengi, zoba, means a mad person, relation to a person with an intellectual disability;
-baba, refers to a person who is deaf, it implies a person who is unable to peak or a person who does not exist;
-Koka, denotes a person who is crawling on the ground, and implies that this person is not valuable.
Among the Swahili people in the eastern and north-eastern DRC, the following terms are used
-Muntu ya kitshwa, a phrase that relates to a person with mental disability, it means an unreasonable person;
_Muntu ya kilema, this includes all kinds of disability; it means a person who is nothing.
From the northern DRC come the following expressions:
-Ngaka, refering to a person in a wheelchair, means a person who is unable to walk;
185 -Moleme, is someone who is incomplete.
From the central of DRC the following terminology was reported:
-Tshilemenda, someone who has a stain on his body, in other words he was bad created or he was destroyed by the devil;
- Tshibombo, these words refer to a person who is not able to work, he is a burden or a spot on society; a person who is haunted by bad spirits or cursed.
All their responses reflected a negative image of disability (see question 2 in Annexure No 1).
Question 3, How many of you are related to a person with a disability? (This could be your child, sister, brother, cousin or parents)
In answer to this question (see question 3 in annexure No 1), 18 respondents or 90% stated that they had family members with disabilities. However, 2 respondents or 10% did not have people with disabilities among their relatives.
Question 4, How many people with disabilities attend your churches/schools? Responses revealed that most of the participating church leaders were also chaplains or religion lecturers in Protestant schools in Kinshasa. Out of 20 pastors, 16 were teachers as well.
Fourteen pastors (WP & MP), or 70% of respondents, did receive PWDs in their parishes. 6 pastors (WP & MP), or 30% of respondents, did not have people with disabilities in their parishes.
Among 16 pastors and lecturers, 6 respondents or 30% did not have children with disabilities in their schools; whereas 10 respondents or 50% of the group did have children with disabilities (most of them physically disabled) among their pupils.389
389 Here, I wanted to go further and find out the types of disabilities these children had because I knew that the DRC Education system does not yet incorporate children with sensory and mental impairment in formal education.
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Question 5, How do others (society) react to these people with disabilities? In answer to this question, 10 respondents or 50% spoke of the negative reaction of society to PWDs. The following are some of the responses:
- PWDs are seen as incomplete persons – PWDs have been mocked – PWDs are among poor people – PWDs are considered as beggars–PWDs are seen as suffering people or people.
Four other respondents or 20% expressed their answers as follows:
- Church has a supportive role to play in regard to PWDs – church has to pray for physical as well as spiritual healing – The Catholic church takes care of PWDs but not the Protestant church – and - The Church has a responsibility to help and recuperate PWDs.
Some of them mentioned my experience in the Church: 2 respondents or 10% who stated:
- Your experience as a pastor in church encourages us – The church considers people with disabilities as persons like others and uses them depending on their capacities; your testimony encourages everybody.
My experience led the interviewees to believe that PWDs can do anything they want to do.
The last 4 respondents, or 20% of the group, commented on families as part of society. Their responses were given in this way:
- Some families have hidden their relatives with disabilities;
- Some families have neglected their disabled members;
-Certain families think that to have a child with a disability is a curse or punishment from God;
-Other families are disoriented; sometimes they are confused regarding their situation as being a family with members who have disabilities.
Question 6, Do you have a programme available for people with disabilities in your church/school? Comment on this.