Congo?s first clergywoman tours Midwest, discusses peacemaking efforts

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

Berthe Nzeba may be the first clergywoman in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but that doesn?t mean gender equality has swept her homeland. In fact, Nzeba is traveling the U.S., speaking about her work in the Congo and her fight to give women a voice.

Nzeba recently stopped at the First Presbyterian Church, in Mt. Pleasant, to address sexual violence, poverty and gender roles within the Congo. Meredith Scott, Mt. Pleasant High School?s French teacher, assisted Nzeba, whose native tongue is French, as her interpreter was unable to travel with her due to a family emergency.

Nzeba said, through an interpreter, that at first, she wasn?t accepted as a pastor because of the Biblical notion that women were suppose to be submissive to men.

?I wanted to give a voice to women,? she said. ?I read the Bible, too, and didn?t take it that way.?

Nzeba continued, ?When Jesus Christ, head of the church, died, he said to the women to be courageous and to tell his brothers that.?

Nzeba said in the Congo, most women don?t know how to read, but are allowed to vote. Nzeba, who serves as the General Secretary of the Woman and Families Department of the Church of Christ (ECC), said one of the department?s roles is to help educate women.

?If they can?t read, they can?t know what they?re missing out on, and they vote uninformed,? summarized Scott.

Nzeba said because of this, women continually vote for people who are not worthy.

One of the other issues in the Congo Nzeba briefed the crowd of nearly 30 people on were the wars.

According to the Presbyterian Church?s website, it is believed the Congo Wars, which started in 1996, have resulted in 5.4 million deaths, due to starvation, disease and combat. Millions more have been victimized by the violence, including the sexual abuse of women and girls.

Nzeba said the rape of women and girls is a war tactic. ?Men are protective of women. The way to demoralize a man is to savage his woman,? she said.

Nzeba said women who have been victimized are then shunned from their villages, as their culture places shame on the women.

Nzeba and the ECC have set up shelters for the abused woman and their children, as well as orphanages. At the shelter, staff gives medical aid to the women, checking for AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Counseling is also available for the women and children to try to help them deal with the trauma they have sustained.

?We also get them involved in an activity or hobby to help bring them back to life,? she added. But mostly, Nzeba tries to tell the women and girls it is not their fault.

Nzeba wasn?t speaking at the church to just share the horrors her country has endured, she was there to seek help.

?We invite you to be with us,? she said. ?Not just to cry for us, but to do something to support us.?

For more information on the Peacemaking Program, visit www.presbyterianmission.org.