The world of social injustice can be best described with a scenario where a man who is dying of thirst is comfortably sitting on a well, filled with pure water, but who is being blocked deliberately by a super force from drinking this water. This is a barbaric treatment impregnated with hatred, wickedness, selfishness and lack of respect and consideration for the other.
The world is unjust
The inequalities that exist in this world push us to sometimes ask the question whether some people are born to suffer (Ref. Lucky Duby) and others are born with silver spoons in their mouth. This has been the refrain of many of the inhabitants of Kisenso, one of the municipalities of Kinshasa which lacks some basic necessities like potable water, good roads, electricity, job opportunities, well-furnished hospitals, etc. For people who go through these hardships, their perpetual refrain is that the world is not just because they are not fairly treated and their basic needs are being denied. Sometimes, many of these people go through these hardships because of who they are, that is, because of their colour, religion, race, tribe, country and gender. These hardships are not imposed by God but by their fellow human beings.
That is why this refrain “the world is unjust” can be explained from different perspectives of life, from cultural and religious practices, from some established social and political institution and people’s economic status. Let us explain this in greater detail.
Cultural and religious practices
First, regarding some cultural and religious practices, such as widowhood rites. These rites are ceremonies performed in some cultures when a woman loses her husband. The aim of this practice is to break what they call the spiritual relationship that could exist between the deceased husband and the surviving wife. Unfortunately, these practices dehumanize the widow, deny her some basic rights and do not respect her privacy. For widows who are dehumanized, the world is unjust because a widower doesn’t get the same treatment. Doesn’t he also need to be cleansed from all kinds of spiritual relationships with the deceased wife?
Imagine the psychological torture of a widow, who is being prevented to take a bath for a number of weeks, condemned to wear the same clothing, prohibited to leave her room, forced to sleep on the floor and eat from broken plates. In the case of Kisenso, some are even chased away from the deceased husband’s house and all the properties of that husband are confiscated. Saint Etienne Parish which is in Kisenso helps a good number of these widows who are rejected by their in-laws and their own children because she is considered to be a witch, hence, the murderer of her husband. Many of them have no choice than to live under the hot scorching sun, and expose themselves to torrential rains that often hasten their immature death.
Social and political institutions
Secondly, regarding established social and political institutions, some of which create social injustice. This is the case when some groups of people consider themselves as the aristocratic group, thereby denying other people from climbing up the social ladder. All the efforts that have been made to change this have borne no fruit, because the system, established in that given society, excludes certain tribes from ruling. At times, it becomes even worse when some young men and women are denied of getting married because of tribal misunderstandings. In our pastoral activities here, we have encountered a number of cases where young ladies and men have had to break up their relationship.
Social injustice occurs in a situation where development takes place based on the location of a given territory. A deep reflection on why some parts of a given country keep developing while other parts are neglected makes us understand that cities of a given country are created based on where they are located (where there is a dense population). Areas which are sparsely populated receive in some countries less developmental projects. People in these areas are sometimes treated as if they have chosen to be where they are. They are left on their own to toil while their counterparts have everything at their disposal and sometimes use in a selfish way what in fact belongs to everyone. The inequalities in the quality of education, health, road network and some social amenities are largely determined by the location of each village or territory. The development in the capital cities of each country, cannot be compared to that of the villages of that same country. Some keep celebrating and throwing food away while others are even deprived of eating what is being thrown away.
No one needs a doctorate degree to understand these developmental disparities, especially in Kisenso (Kinshasa) where lukewarm development is seen at all levels. It is not uncommon to see people queuing and passing nights around the sites of boreholes so as to buy water once it begins flowing. This sometimes prevents children from attending school, paralyses our pastoral activities and weakens the participation of the faithful in church activities like Masses, rehearsals, retreats, recollections, etc., because they have to look for water. The population survives by water from wells and drilled boreholes because there is no other source of water. Saint Etienne parish is one of the entities that supply good quality potable water to the population though it is always limited because of high demand and limited supply. When will Kisenso be connected to the Regideso? That is an everyday question that lacks an answer. Why are equals treated unequally?
There is always a great joy when each person is fairly treated and his or her dignity respected. Eliminating individualism, selfishness, greediness, corruption etc. will lead to establishing social justice among the creatures of God.
By: Paschal Bapuoh, M.Afr.