The Redeemed Church that caters for the disabled in Port Harcourt

Uduma Nkechi

A Redeemed church in Port Harcourt under the Rivers Province 10 has been identified for its impressive act of kindness towards the disabled in Rivers state.

The idea to start a service for the disabled people in Rivers state particularly the deaf and dumb was initiated by the minister-in-charge of the province, Barr.Solomon Marega.

Barr.Solomon Meraga told our correspondent in an exclusive interview that the idea to start a service for the disabled came to him when a member of a church told him that a sibling of his who was deaf and dumb came for service and was very impressed with the service which he could understand to a certain extent because of the use of projector during the church service.

This motivated the minister-in-charge to hire a sign language teacher to be coming to the church every Sunday not only to teach the disabled but also to train some members of the church on how to sign.

Minister Marega also said the disabled section started with just two people but later grew to about sixty people.

“We started with just two members but to our amazement, some of them started inviting their friends to church and from there, their numbers started increasing every Sunday. Now, we have about 60 of them and they now occupy the first two rows in the church.

Some of them, come from very far distances. Some come to church from Aba, while some of them come from some remote areas in Rivers state.

The Minister added that the church specifically see to their needs to ensure that they are happy and keep coming back.
“We provide transport fare to all of them every Sunday and distribute food items to them every third Sunday of the month.

We also organise empowerment programmes where they learn skills such as soap making,makeover,baking, sewing and so on. The church has invested a lot in them and we still want to do more. For example, the pregnant ones among them deliver free of charge in our maternity,during antenatal, their instructors go with them so as to interpret what is being said to them.

Currently, we are making plans to build a school for them so that the illiterate ones among them that cannot sign, will learn how to communicate with their friends. We also need financial help from private individuals,organisations and government to carry out these projects. We will be glad if people can reach out to us.”

He also urged other churches to emulate from them and reach out to the disabled in the state.

“We urge other churches our there, to embrace these people and reach out to them. they need love and care. Some of them are violent and can only be tamed through spiritual coordination. The other day, a member of our church took some of them to a wedding and was interpreting the sermon to them only to be rudely stopped by the pastor of that church which is too bad.” He said.

Some of the disabled members expressed profound gratitude for the love of the church towards them during a chat with our correspondent.
“We normally use to feel marginalized and very lonely but since we started coming to church here and being able to converse with our friends, we feel very happy.” They said through their instructor.

(For inquiries on how to reach out to these people, please contact Pastor Solomon Marega on 08033091847)