Prison Preacher

10/06/06
Prison preacher.

As many of you know, I have had a chance in Berkeley and in Oregon to get involved with prison ministry. I was telling one man about this a few weeks ago while visiting a bible study and he was quite happy to hear about my interest and passion for this part of ministrty. He was in prison for 6 years and it was there where he first converted to Christianity and became a born again Christian. He was selected as the translator for a group of missionaries who came into the prison and it was through that experience that he himself came to Christ. Now he is an associate pastor for a Pentecostal church that he and another pastor started. He told me that he would get me out to see some of the prisons.

Yesterday we left at 8:30 in the morning to begin our journey to the prisons. We met up with a man named Francis, who has done extensive work trying to change the conditions of the prisons, and we visited a local prison in Mukono which is a holding place for those who are suspects as well as a place for convicts. This facility was renovated extensively by the Pentecostal church of Uganda and a group from Norway (NORAD) . They now have better cooking facilities, toilet facilities and sleeping quarters. They also have opportunities to learn skills such as carpentry and mat/basket weaving.

The state of prisons are much different from those in the US. At this first prison, prisoners had to leave each day in search of some work so as to get food. They also have a very small garden where they can grow food.

The second prison I visited is in the town of Kayanga. This is a very large prison which has been run for a long time by the central government. This was in fact the place where my friend was once a prisoner. Some of the guards remembered him from his time there. Fortnatley, many people with a heart for this ministry have done a lot to change the situation from when he was in there. When he was there, it would not be uncommon for prisoners to be beaten or humiliated by the guards.

The prisoners at this prison are sent out each day into the bush surrounding the compound to clear land and dig and farm. Any prisoner who tries to escape is typically shot and killed. If a prisoner escapes, then the officer who was in charge of him gets a pay cut.

We toured around and my friend asked if I could give some words of encouragement. I stammered and told him that I am no pastor, but I will do my best. Inside, I was secretly hoping that I would never have to complete this task. Well, they gathered all of the men and they had one of the prisoners, who serves as their Sunday preacher, translate, and low and behold, I was a prison preacher. Oh my, who knew it was in me. I basically just went off on a tirade about how they can be agents of peaces, how they have the ability and capacity to change the structures around them. I went off about the consumer Christianity that has penetrated Uganda and how Christianity calls them to something greater, which is seeking out justice for our communities. I even touched on inculturation, the richness of Africa, the need to remember the oppressions of slavery and of colonialism and the mzungu disease (the idea that anything white is better). I could have been speaking for 20 minutes or more. I wish I spoke the local language so I could understand what the translator was saying. Apparently whenever he didn’t understand my English, he talked around it trying to give them some picture of what I was saying. This man was a lame and used crutches to get around. Looking around as I talked, I could people nodding their heads, taking in the message I was giving. Oh, it was a great feeling. The guys I were with were so happy about my preaching, that they decided to take us to another prison to preach there.

This other prison that we went to was another one of the smaller local prisons. They were in much worse conditions than the previous prison at mukono. There were basically two buildings and some outdoor cooking facilities. One building was for the officers and the other was the wards for the prisoners. For the prisoners there were just 3 rooms. 2 larger ones were for the men and one very small one was for the women. John had me preach here as well, but I could tell that there was a little more enthusiasm at the other prison in Kayunga, where they already have a church community of some sort. Also, the other prisoners got off of working at the farm so they could here us tlak, so there was some material benefit for htem too. The Officer in Charge was insistent that I go around and take photos of all the facilities so the conditions they are living and working in can be documented. Another officer from Jinja approached us and asked John and I to visit 5 more prisons out in the east. So imagine that, I became a prison preacher.


Visiting the school.

I have agreed to help pastor Abel out by recording some of the ministries that his NGO bible grace ministiries is involved in. I am happy that I was able to get the Undugu guys on board, since making this “documentary” as he searches for sponsors is a project a little too big for me while I am here doing my research. I went with him to a school for orphans the other day. Some of these kids only get one meal a day of maize flour porridge. I didn’t really have a chance to interact with the students since they were in classes. I have been asked by fr. Stephen if I could volunteer a little time to help out with a school that undugu runs. I look forward to the opprortunity to do some hands on work in teaching English to these kids.


Oh and a side note…
I got sick again. This time it was my own dang fault as I just chomped down on some lettuce that was sitting on the table. I tried to “will away” the sickness, but it only helps in preventing the effects of it, but not healing it. I have been on peptobisnal all week. I am now on some antibiotics to clean this out. I also ate some small grain like seeds called simsim the other day and I think one somehow got up in the nasal cavitiy and I now have a sinus infection… looks like my first bout of illness was only just the beginning.