Prisoners Entertaining Guests
Our much anticipated and dreaded visit to a prison in Kibungo was not what I expected. The night before, during our time of reflection, we talked about reconciliation and forgiveness in our own lives. But how do you forgive such heinous crimes? "There is no forgiveness without justice", I've read.
We arrived outside the gate and as we entered we heard music and singing. They were getting ready to entertain us under a shelter whose thin covering flapped in the wind. We met men in clean, freshly pressed pink shorts and and shirts. The women wore pink shirts with their skirts. Prison garb in Rwanda is colored pink. "Bonjour!" we said as we shook hands. We sat in front as they held a prayer service with singing and dancing. The young men would've been just out of childhood when they injured or killed. Perpetrators under the age of 14 were not incarcerated. The prisoners here were some of the first to confess and ask for forgiveness.
We arrived outside the gate and as we entered we heard music and singing. They were getting ready to entertain us under a shelter whose thin covering flapped in the wind. We met men in clean, freshly pressed pink shorts and and shirts. The women wore pink shirts with their skirts. Prison garb in Rwanda is colored pink. "Bonjour!" we said as we shook hands. We sat in front as they held a prayer service with singing and dancing. The young men would've been just out of childhood when they injured or killed. Perpetrators under the age of 14 were not incarcerated. The prisoners here were some of the first to confess and ask for forgiveness.