Proclaiming the redemptive power and love of Jesus Christ for all people

Evangelization

PFR’s main goal is to transform prisoners through the redemptive power of Christ’s love. As PFR is a ministry of reconciliation, PFR believes that true repentance, and therefore genuine reconciliation, cannot occur without the conversion of inmates to Christianity.

PFR conducts prison-wide evangelization programs, where all the prisoners have opportunities to hear the Bible preached by experienced pastor volunteers. PFR also distributes Bibles to Christian prison inmates to nurture and foster them spiritually. The aim for these prisoners is that they may learn to discern right from wrong, lead them to repentance and restore them back to a normal life, and also enable them to acknowledge the need of a new relationship with God for a better future. PFR teachings revolve around the five key stages of reconciliation: accepting responsibility, confessing, repenting, asking for forgiveness, being reconciled in accordance with the Umuvumu Tree teaching components.

Literacy Training

Idleness in prison is a big problem in Rwandan prisons and contributes to feelings of lack of self-worth and confidence. PFR decided to build talents of inmates by building a literacy program in one of the Rwandan prisons in 2008. In this program, PFR trains and equips the literate prisoners to lead Kinyarwanda reading and writing classes to their fellow inmates. So far 600 inmates have gone through this program. This program enhances the quality of life of the inmates inside the overcrowded prisons and also provides valuable skill sets that will assist them in reintegration upon release.

Carpentry and Craft Activities

Similarly, carpentry workshops and handcraft activities (such as basket weaving) were also created in one of Rwanda’s prisons to train them with life skills to help them become productive citizens with the ability to generate income and make a life for themselves upon release, as well as enhance their quality of life inside the prison.

Recreation Activities

The inclusion of sports within the prisons walls was introduced through PFR as a way to promote unity as opposed to isolationism within the prison and creates organic opportunities for group counseling. And of course, exercise improves the health of the prisoners and playing sports relaxes them and gives them a peace of mind. PFR has found a unique way to combine sports with counseling efforts to help them confront their struggles in a constructive way. PFR has formed four football and volleyball teams for both men and women in one of the prisons in Rwanda.

Agriculture Programs

Prisons are overcrowded and under funded. One of the greatest challenges faced in the prisons is a shortage of food available for the inmates. Prison Fellowship Rwanda has responded to this problem by starting a farming project in one of the prisons in Rwanda, helping the prisoners grow their own vegetables to contribute to the nutritional quality of the food supplied by the Rwandan government. This is especially important since a large number of inmates are infected with HIV/AIDS, or incarcerated mothers bring their infants to live in prisons with them, so nutrition is crucial to the very survival of these individuals. In 2008 PFR farmed two hectares (five acres) of land with tomatoes and onions at one of the prisons. PFR is currently seeking the funds to continue and expand this agricultural program.

Unity and Reconciliation

While PFR conducts valuable reconciliation work through the Umuvumu Tree Project, reconciliation is also needed in communities where genocide perpetrators and victims alike are forced to live as neighbors once again. Read below for the variety of projects PFR conducts to create communities of restoration.

Reconciliation Villages

PFR is committed to pairing reconciliation with economic development. After the genocide, most genocide survivors lost most or all of their family members, as well as their homes. Also, repentant genocide perpetrators released into their communities typically have nowhere to go as they are shunned from community. In 2005, PFR launched a house-building project, called “Practical Reconciliation.” Since 2005, in partnership with Norwegian Church Aid, 438 homes were built for genocide survivors and repentant ex-prisoners to create communities of restoration where all Rwandans can live together peacefully.

PFR is also in partnership with the Living Bricks Campaign, an action program between the As We Forgive Rwanda Initiative and Prison Fellowship International. This is a similar house-building project that provides housing to the most destitute community members, repentant genocide perpetrators and survivors alike. Please visit the Living Bricks website here: http://www.livingbrickscampaign.org/

Income generating projects

As stated above, it is crucial to offer economic opportunities to promote reconciliation. People cannot think about reconciling when their main concern is that they have no food, home, or job. In continued partnership with Norwegian Church Aid, PFR has begun agricultural project in reconciliation communities, since the majority of occupation here are farmers. One facet of this program involves donating livestock. To a family in the rural hills of Rwanda, owning a goat provides significant economic advantages, with the ability to sell offspring of goats and even use the manure as fertilizer for farming. The community members have created a rotation system among themselves where they give the first goat offspring to each family in the village so that everyone can benefit from the livestock.

What’s more, PFR staff works with the community members to teach them about how to protect the environment around them, teach them home gardening skills where they can grow their own food, and also how to care for their livestock, to ensure that these gifts have a lasting impact in the community.

Emerging Programs

Street Children Ministry

PFR is a ministry of reconciliation in response to crime. Much of its work has been with survivors and perpetrators of the genocide. Ministry to street children is a natural outgrowth of its mission for two reasons. First, many street children either have parents in prison for genocide-related crimes or are survivors themselves. Second, PFR seeks to not only respond to crime but to prevent it as well, and street children are especially susceptible to criminalization, which can land them in prison at an early age. Taking at-risk children out of a future in prison has an enormous societal impact through breaking cycles of criminalization that run in families with criminal history.

To learn more about our work with Rwandan Street Children, visit the “Angel Tree Program” link.

PFR Women’s Cooperative

Prison Fellowship Rwanda wants to offer economic opportunities, emotional and spiritual healing, and health assistance to a group of 35 widows who are infected with HIV/AIDS. To learn more about this initiative, please visit the link “HIV/AIDS Women’s Program.”