Prison and Bonfire.

I had the privilege on Saturday morning of going with about 15 other Mercy Ships volunteers to join the Prison Ministry at the local prison in Cotonou. I was not sure what to expect, but it was completely different than what I thought it would be. It was about a 15-minute car ride from the ship and when we arrived we meet up with the Prison Ministry staff, prayed, and signed our name on a list (which is how we were allowed to enter the prison). We split up into 3 groups: youth (all boys), men and women (which included children). Once through the prison door, I felt like we had just entered another village or community. We entered the courtyard where visitors are able to come and hang out with their family. Some of the prisoners were in green or yellow jumpsuits that meant they had some kind of job. Visitors wore something around their arm to identify himself or herself as a visitor and then everyone else just wore their normal bright colored fabric clothes. From the courtyard we went through another set of doors where all the other prisoners were and I felt like we had entered the market. Groups were cooking their food, eating, having church, dancing, and playing checkers, really everything that you would see if you entered one of the villages. From there we went through another door to where all the women stayed. The women were very friendly and excited to see us. I was immediately greeted by a 4-year-old named Danielle who attached herself to me. Most of the women speak French so communicating was a challenge, but nothing we could not overcome. We mostly stayed together as a group since we had a couple French speakers and walked around, saying hi to some of the women they already knew and meeting new ladies all, which we were able to pray for. A common prayer request was for their backs that are hurting, weakness in their bodies, illness/ malaria, their families that they are away from, liberation from prison, one women who believed she was under a voo doo curse and so were her children. We not only prayed for these requests but also for the Joy of the Lord to be in their lives as well. A couple of the women are believers and read their bibles, but it is so easy to be discouraged where they are living and most just waiting to be set free. Everyone there is guilty till proven innocent and many are working on getting papers signed to be released which cost money and sometimes when money is paid, they will not even sign the papers. Depending on how much money you have depends on where you sleep. Most sleep on mats on the concrete floor, with all their cooking supplies stored at the back. But the people with more money actually have beds. The prison does feed the prisoners once a day, but most cook their own food if they have it. There is a lot of selling and barging inside among the prisoners.

I spent some time playing with Danielle, the 4-year-old little girl who was precious and has such a contagious laugh. She loved to talk (in French), dance, and sing. I know that she is a bright stop for all the ladies in there. I also was able to talk to a mother and hold her 7-month-old baby, Francis, who loved clapping and grasping my finger. When we were finished, we were able to join up with the youth as they were finishing their program. There was money donated to buy French bibles for the boys. Many of the boys were excited and we pray that they will read their bibles and have a hunger for God’s word. There were about 30 boys and the Prison Ministry come in everyday to teach them school and other activities like sewing and different crafts that they can make, i.e. flip-flops.
I was blessed to be able to go and prayer for the ladies in particularly, but for all the prisoners as well. I definitely would like to go back.

"The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

Saturday night we had a ship wide bonfire at Obama Beach. We got there in time to watch the last of the sunset and it was fun to enjoy an evening singing worship songs, talking with friends and listening to the beautiful sound of the ocean all around the fire. The only thing that would of made it better would of been s'mores :)