Why? - What Makes This Worthwhile

This photo above of Nanuku Settlement is just over a year old - what a year of witness and blessing it has been. The rubbish on the left of the picture is now gone. Some 1.5km of new concrete pathways allow people in the community to walk above the mud. The new site for the OF Community Centre is ready for construction.

We have had different teams - Police, Corrections, Rugby, Military, NGO’s, all engage in different parts of the community development, however last week two things happened that spoke more than all of those efforts combined…

Firstly, I was sent a photo of the young men working together cleaning the drains in Nanuku. Understand that Nanuku has no sewer system and so the drains are the conduit for all manner of waste and run-off. Volunteering themselves for this task was no small commitment because we are talking several kilometers of black ooze-filled drains to be dug out and cleared.

What it showed was the commitment to their community was beginning to develop and what a heartwarming experience that is. It was just one step, a profound step, that we prayed would begin and here was the evidence of it.

Secondly, I walked into Suva Correctional Centre on Wednesday and was met by a familiar face - one of the young men from Nanuku. I was more surprised than he was however as we talked his story unfolded. One of the primary reasons for making Nanuku our home is to begin the opportunity to address the issues that brought this young man to prison. The OF Community Centre will give us an ongoing presence in Nanuku Community and allow us the ability to craft interventions and supports well before the law needs to be involved.

Seeing my friend from Nanuku once again inside the prison walls validated our vision for a wider redemption ministry that is situated admist their community and their home.

Welcome Back to Prison

It began with a phone call from the Fiji Corrections Rehabilitation Unit, “We start programs next week and we’ll send through the OF Team’s schedules for each prison”. With only a few days to prepare we activated the OF teams to be ready for a Monday start in Suva, Lautoka, Taveuni and Labasa Prisons.

Over the last two weeks the OF team have worked with some 60 new inmates and this will grow to another 60 of the next weeks. We will then be working primarily with these 120 men and women for the next 3 months, taking them through different stages of their rehabilitation. We have also been asked to add and implement several new programs to our existing programs, in response we have been piloting True Identity, Anger Management, and Loving Living Life with these men and women with wonderful outcomes.

Over the last two weeks we have seen a deepening of faith, renewal of faith, and new commitments to faith. The OF team’s training to facilitate with gentleness, authenticity, and vulnerability have seen honesty emerge from previous denials, brokenness emerge from hardened hearts, surrender emerge from rebellion, and new hope emerge from hopelessness. Each day our internal communication system (Slack) is full of stories of what the team have witnessed and are celebrating in the lives of the men and women we are again working with.

We ask for your partnership as we work to restore the image and likeness of Christ in the men and women we have the sacred privilege to work with. Thank you!

Building Plans for Nanuku

Plans are an exciting part of a new project. Fiji Corrections continue to be strong partners in our ministry engagement in Nanuku community. In a recent meeting they committed to provide a full set of building and engineering plans for the ‘Nanuku Community Centre & Early Childhood’ and gave the task to their own Building Services & Engineering unit.

Several site visits took place with their team, armed with tape measures, laser levels, iPads, and then a number of consultations around what was essential function and design for the activities that will be taking place within and around the centre. Several weeks later we were called into a meeting with the Commissioner of Corrections and his senior leadership team and presented the new building plans.

The photo below shows the Fiji Corrections team taking the measurements, and continue to scroll down to see the new building plans for the site. The $15,000 we received from the FCS Staff welfare fund caught us by surprise, and is wonderful sign of their partnership and commitment to restoration.

Floor Plan of Nanuku OF Ministry & Community Centre - Nanuku Community

Elevation Plan of Nanuku OF Ministry & Community Centre - Nanuku Community

The Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) Engineering Corps are now undertaking a full materials costing. Stay tuned for more updates.

Volunteers in Spades

It was early dawn as they began stepping out of the van all dressed alike, in white t-shirts and black shorts and ready for action. Sixteen police recruits were discovering new aspects of community engagement by assisting our Operation Foundation project in Nanuku Community.

Some may call it hard labour and it certainly was hard! Using wheelbarrows and sacks they moved tonnes of soapstone through the narrow tracks in the community to the new building site. The good spirit and heart these sixteen police recruits attracted a large number of children from the community, who also played their part. The huge pile of soapstone diminished and reappeared at the other end of Nanuku, raising the new building site out of the mud and above the high tide mark.

By hook or by crook … Fiji Police Recruits moving soapstone while slipping and sliding in the mud.

Stepping Out & Stepping Free

Pastor Semi, our team leader in Lautoka, wanted to mentor four young men that were part of his church. Having taught StepOut-StepFree in Lautoka and Ba prisons he decided he try it out with these young men.

The first week went well, as did the second. In fact it all went well, so well in fact that the numbers kept growing and Pastor Semi had to keep going back to the start as the original four grew by word of mouth to seventeen - young and older, men and women.

The impact of this StepOut-StepFree is still being measured. In simple terms it brought people back to church life and engagement; it grew faith and a passion for God; it built new strength where people were weak; it reconciled people to Christ and each other. We had seen and evidenced this in the classes behind the walls, however it was thanks to Covid-19 and Semi’s heart that we got to road-test StepOut-StepFree in the community.

Enjoy the video of Tai, one of the two young men who were so inspired by the impact of StepOut-StepFree on their own lives that they have both now joined the OF team as volunteers.

Pray for Pastor Semi and the OF team as we engage in the ministry of restoring lives and restoring communities for the glory of Jesus Christ.

Yellow Ribbon Celebration

The first Yellow Ribbon Parade was held on a bright sunny Suva Saturday morning in 2008. As we walked from Albert Park, along Victoria Parade to Ratu Sakuna Park, it was a novel assembly of corrections officers, inmates, ex-inmates, government leaders, and the wider community.

There was huge excited anticipation as the past Commissioner, Brigadier General Ioane Naivalurua, led the Fiji Corrections Service in a new approach of giving a second chance for prisoners. Prisons and prisoners were no longer being hidden away but encouraged to participate in their rehabilitation, and return healed to their family and community.

Peter & Jemimah at the first Yellow Ribbon Parade with inmates from Nasinu Prison. (11 October 2008)

As an annual event in Fiji’s calendar the Yellow Ribbon Parade has grown to be part of the identity of who we aspire to be as Fijian people: a community that believes in investing in the least to provide a second chance.

A few weeks ago, it was another Saturday morning where over 4000 people came together to celebrate the 2022 Yellow Ribbon Parade in Suva. This was no longer a short stroll between the two main parks in Suva but a stretching and invigorating 6km walk. Wearing our yellow t-shirts we embarked on the route with our return being celebrated by breakfast, exhibitions, and tremendous music being provided by the Yellow Ribbon Band made up of officers and inmates.

Peter, Jemimah & Jill at the 2022 Yellow Ribbon Walk starting line

What does it take to change the stigma and attitudes towards prisoners? A courageous and consistent investment by a community wanting to live out justice and mercy!

Peter & Jill with the serving Fiji Corrections Commissioner; Commander Francis Kean with grandson, and previous Corrections Commissioner; Lt Colonel (ret) Ifereimi Vasu (2nd right) in the background.