This is a Tax Deductible OARF project
“Several weeks ago,” begins one of the prison facilitation team, “I was sitting having a catch-up and coffee with one of my recently released prisoners when I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was another ex-prison, a man who we had previously counselled and helped. He had just happened to see me as he walked past the coffee shop. Asking if he could speak with me for a minute, we stepped outside the cafe. Pressing $20 into my palm, he murmured that it was for our ministry and the men who needed help. To me, it felt like a million dollars! What an incalculable victory when such men can come to place where they can see beyond their own needs and begin to give into the lives of others.”
Operation Foundation Fiji is a Christian Restorative Ministry active in bringing renewal and transformation in the community of incarcerated offenders and ex-offenders in Fiji. Intervention, counselling, support and relationship are the key themes of Operation Foundation’s in-prison ministry. The direct work with inmates begins as soon as they enter the prison. With male inmates this interaction encompasses a variety of activities that include, our Step Out-Step Free classes, individual counselling and family visits. For female inmates our interaction involves: numeracy and literacy classes; craft and sewing classes for income generation; and individual counselling and support.
Throughout the inmate’s sentence, the Operation Foundation team build individual relationships with inmates so that they can continue effective counsel and support past the release date. The focus of the ministry is re-entry, preparing prisoners for release and then assisting them for an undefined period after release. The core rehabilitation programming and activity is well received by its primary partners, the Fiji Corrections Service; the inmates and their families, and the communities.
For more information see Operation Foundation website.