The Republic of Rwanda, a small country in central Africa the size of Maryland, is commemorating the 30th year since the genocide tore the nation apart. In a 100-day period between April 7 and July 19, 1994, up to 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered by Hutu militias, and an estimated 500,000 Tutsi women were raped.
The Republic of Rwanda, a small country in central Africa the size of Maryland and with about double its population, is commemorating the 30th year since the Rwandan genocide tore its country apart.
Red Clay Creek Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware, turns 300 this year, and the congregation plans a yearlong celebration. Worshipers recently heard an inspiring and heartfelt sermon from one of its favorite sons, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, who deftly put into historical perspective the church’s lengthy history.
The Washington Corrections Center for Women is both the largest and the only maximum and medium security prison for women in the state. It’s surrounded by barbed wire, and you have to go through five locked gates to get to the main population.
In the fall of 2018, youth at Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center (BAJCC) in Chesterfield County, Virginia, asked to start a gospel choir. The request reached the Rev. Lauren Ramseur and the Rev. Ashley Diaz Mejias who, along with friends, collaborated to support the initiative. Ramseur and Mejias soon discovered that they were “doing church” — gathering twice a month at the correctional center for a community of worship. The group named themselves the Voices of Jubilee.
If you were to visit Maula Prison, built on a hill in the capital city of Lilongwe, Malawi, you might notice that it feels very outdoorsy and open. There are multiple layers of fences, but in between them is open, undeveloped space. The lack of shrubs and low trees allows clear sight for a long distance.
Presbyterian World Mission received a heartfelt message from the Rev. Wickliff Kang’ombe Zulu, Nkhoma Synod prison chaplain, expressing gratitude for sponsorship of his attendance at the eighth annual International Conference on Human Rights and Prison Reform (CURE).
When the busload of teenage girls from an affluent boarding school in Farmington, Connecticut, entered the room, they weren’t exactly enthusiastic. They would be spending the afternoon with the Council of Churches of Greater Bridgeport (CCGB), a faith-based social services agency dedicated to meeting the needs of people at risk and breaking the cycle of poverty and incarceration. The young women expected an afternoon of boring lectures.
