It's Kimbanguism that makes us into a human person.
— Suzanne Matondo2023
Suzanne Matondo
Suzanne Matondo grew up in Central Congo in Inga, Boma, and Matadi before moving to Kinshasa to study Theology. Matondo currently teaches History and is a member of the Kimbanguist Church. In the full interview, Matondo discusses her family’s background, slavery, Belgian colonization of the Congo, her journey with the Kimbanguist church, the role of women, and ways that Kimbanguism informs her understanding of freedom. This interview was conducted in French in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Watch the full interviewConversation Transcript
Kimbanguism…Like freedom, it’s Kimbanguism that makes us into a human person. Initially,we were not human,we were not human. We received a Christianity which had enslaved us, which made us into…which trampled on us. But Kimbanguist Christianity came to rehabilitate us. So, freedom in Kimbanguist Christianity, it is a freedom that makes us into full-fledged individuals, not a conquistador Christianity that made us sub-humans. But Kimbanguist Christianity makes us into full-fledged individuals, that has freed us, given us the opportunity to express ourselves, that gave us the possibility of…becoming human persons.
