Wine Country and Forgiven Enemies
This week has been crazy! We moved from Cape Town up to our final destination, a suburb called Wellington. Perfectly fitting the definition of wine country, there are hundreds of acres of rolling hills covered in vineyards, and in the distance jagged mountains stand tall. The sights are unbelievably breathtaking.
Now that we are finally in Wellington, we can start to build relationships with inmates at the nearby prisons. Over the next 6 weeks we will get to facilitate and participate in weekly bible studies with the same guys each week. I am excited to be on a first name basis with inmates and we can get to know each other more than from just one interaction. This week our team was able to explore the different prisons in the area, and through this we have done some pretty cool stuff and seen some even crazier things.
All 13 of our team members helped plan a "coffee shop" for inmates at Voorberg prison. The goal was to bring fun and enjoyment into the prison space, so the inmates could remember a hopeful and joyful presence. When we arrived, our team was greeted by about 50 men excited to meet us and hang out. We set up shop in a big open room within the medium security building. Some of the team brought instruments and played worship music as everyone got settled. The program was filled with song, scripture, sermons, and prayer. I thought it was neat to see three separate ministries come together with the same purpose of loving inmates and showing them someone cares. We brought food and luckily we were joined with two other ministries that also brought food so there was more than enough to go around. We served coffee, cake, muffins, biscuits, cookies, crackers, and chips. You could tell the inmates were surprised and delighted that we were there. It was very cool to spend time having real conversation with these guys in a fun and lively environment.
Some of the guys joked about traveling back to the U.S. stowed away in our suit cases. The longer I've been here, the more I witness how much influence the U.S. has on South African prison culture. We were told that they all love America before we came, and it is absolutely true, these guys are enamored with the States. They have so many questions about everything from back home including celebrities, politics, sports, and so much more. I am ecstatic for them to spend time with Americans just as much as we are pumped to spend time with South African inmates. Altogether, prison ministry has a really unique dynamic and leads to eye opening conversations.
One day last week, myself and three others went to a small prison outside of Wellington named Paardeberg. We had the opportunity to sit in and participate in a bible study with 15 inmates who had just finished a six month long course on finding their identity. Inmates are often sent to prison at a young age and suddenly prison becomes all they know. They become very comfortable with the circumstances and rely heavily on the system to support them. Inmates are given a bed, food, showers, a set schedule each day, and become dependent on others making decisions for them. Many times, men will be released at the end of their sentence and the pressure of the outside world becomes to hard for them to handle. As a result, they end up committing more crimes, sometimes within a week of leaving in order to get back to the sad comfort of prison. Restorative Justice is a course designed to help the the inmates see that they have an identity greater than being labeled a prisoner. Being a prisoner is sometimes the only thing they see when looking in the mirror.
In small groups we talked about goals, and I was humbled to be listening and in the presence of these men while they shared their dreams and hopes for their life as it is a very rare occurrence. One man, Darren, spoke about his desire to become a mechanic and support a family when he gets out. To you and me, this seems basic, but based on the circumstances, it is a breakthrough for Darren and proof that God is doing some big things for prisoners.
On this day, we were led by Maxwell, an ex-gang leader who began to fear for his life during his gang involvement and turned to a life following Jesus. Maxwell is a man covered in scars and has plenty of stories to tell about them. He is caring, funny, supports his family, and loves sharing the testimony of his life. What blew my mind was during this same Bible study he was leading, there was a man from his previous life in attendance named Tony. Maxwell and Tony were in rival gangs around Cape Town fighting over drugs, mostly crystal meth. At one point during the height of their gang rivalry, Tony had stabbed Maxwell above his right eye leaving a scar and painful memories.
My was fascinating was to see the visual testimony and work of God through Maxwell's changed heart and how he had truly forgiven his enemies. The craziest part is that he is strong enough to be in the same room as his enemies and calmly stand face-to-face and in doing so, show them that they too can turn their life around. I am inspired and I am excited to get to hear more stories from Maxwell. Even if it is rare, who knows, we may witness the beginning of a similar movement in an inmates life while we are here.
Other than some really good sessions in various prisons and getting to know my amazing team, I am truly enjoying being here. Although it has been hard to adjust, I am slowly getting to know my place here within the team. We've have had many training sessions to best equip our team for the coming weeks when we start leading the Bible study sessions ourselves. I love continuing to learn more about this country and South African culture here in the Western Cape. So much has happened already, and I cannot believe that we are only at the end of week three! Also, milk here comes in a bag...
Next week is a big week, our team will be leading our first Restorative Justice (RJ) course with Hope Prison Ministry, which is six full days with the same group of 24 men where the goal is to bring to light the impact that crimes have over communities and individuals. So many times in the criminal justice system the victim is highly overlooked and it becomes focused on the criminal vs. the state. The RJ course turns the criminal justice system upside down and we get to have conversations with inmates about the impact a crime has on the victim. We will be able to facilitate honest conversations to help pin point what led them to their crimes. In the coming week, we will explore emotions and logical reasoning with the inmates for maybe the first time ever in their life. We have heard that it is often hard and overwhelming to sit in such a dark spot, talking face to face with murderers and rapists, but I know that lives will be changed because of this RJ week. Please be praying for our team to stand tall through this week and shed light on these guys.
And as always, thanks for reading and thinking of me while I'm away!
Connor