umbrella, and steadied her arm when she
needed help.
The rain let up by the time we reached her
bus stop, and so I got out of the van to meet
her. I learned her name was Aliyah, and she
used crutches because she was a polio
survivor. Despite her disfigured legs and
twisted hips, she possessed the brightest
smile. Aliyah told me how grateful she
was for my message. “Ethiopians need to
hear more about the God of the Bible,” she
said enthusiastically.
“And your children are adorable,” I said
motioning to the three little ones, “Their
daddy must be at home?” I naively asked.
At once, her face darkened. “Oh, Mrs.
Joni,” she said in a sobering tone, “You
need to know that things are different
for Christian women with disabilities
in a country like ours. I am weak and
defenseless” – she held up her crutch –
“and Christian women like me are easy
targets for abuse and rape. I do not know
the fathers of these children,” she said
with a hurt expression. “But they are mine
and I raise them in the Lord.”
That afternoon, Aliyah opened my eyes to
8 • Solutions
a unique kind of persecution that involves
religion and disability. Men of foreign
faiths promulgate a heinous harassment
against Christians who are weak and
defenseless – and who, in their eyes,
could be more defenseless than a woman
paralyzed by polio? And so, persecution
and intimidation take the form of rape and
molestation. After all, she’s a Christian;
she’s disabled; who would care?
“
...over 100 million
Christians around the
world are suffering
under persecution.”
“Aid to the Church in Need” recently
published a report in which they described
C h r i s t i a n i t y a s “ t h e w o r l d ’s m o s t
oppressed faith community.” In that group
there is an even more oppressed subset:
women with disabilities. Whether they
use white canes, wheelchairs, or walkers,
they go about with large targets on their
backs: “I am a Christian and defenseless
– abuse me!”
One way that Christian leaders in the west
can help the persecuted church, is to think