Music Empowerment: How Kupenda’s Choir is Advocating for Disability Justice and Inclusion

In addition to our trainings and community events, Kupenda inspires disability advocacy and inclusion through music. In 2016, we established the Kupenda Choir, which is a team of 25 musicians who have written a series of songs about disability justice. These songs not only educate the community about disability rights and the importance of inclusion, but they also celebrate the value and contribution of people living with disabilities. Each year the choir performs at dozens of community events throughout Kilifi County in Kenya.

In addition to educating their communities about disability through music, the choir members advocate for the rights and inclusion of people with disabilities through community sensitization activities. One member, Ronald Ngala, recently spoke to his pastor, Simon Kenga, about Kupenda’s pastor disability training program. Kenga was moved by the message of God’s inclusive love for people with disabilities and began sensitizing his church members to “go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame,” (Luke 14:21).

Pastor Kenga also felt compelled by Kupenda’s message that Christian leaders are key influencers who have a responsibility to promote healing and inclusion for people with disabilities rather than propagate harmful beliefs about disabilities being caused by witchcraft, curses, and sin. In response, Pastor Kenga visited Kupenda’s field office to learn more about how to support and advocate for the rights of children with disabilities.

Our field team provided Pastor Kenga with more disability training and materials and also asked him to host a Kupenda workshop for parents of children with disabilities from his church and community. Soon after, the pastor arranged this session. It was well attended by those from the community and it enabled Pastor Kenga to learn even more about the needs of families impacted by disability in his community.

Over time, Pastor Kenga’s motivation for this work continued to grow and he welcomed many people with disabilities and their families into his church. He also started a parent support group for 25 caregivers of children with disabilities from his community. To empower this group, he helped them write a proposal for an income generating project and submit it to the Walezi Foundation. The proposal was funded and enabled the group to buy a water tank. The members now sell water to the community and, most days, earn around $8 to support their families. They are using this income to help their children with disabilities pay for transportation to the local hospital so they can access therapy.

In the coming year, Kupenda will invite Pastor Kenga to attend our Disability Outreach and Inclusion Workshop for Christian Leaders and then our additional trainings on disability types, counseling, and abuse prevention. Pastor Kenga said,

“I am happy to see children with disabilities accessing the services they need such as therapy and medication so that they become independent in life.”

To continue to support these types of trainings, please consider equipping more people like Pastor Kenga to reach out to their communities with the message of hope and loving inclusion!

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