Mission Blog – Zomba Prison Blues

Zomba Prison Blues

Todd and Annika Statham
Zomba Prison Blues

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Visiting Zomba prison

Visiting a prison in Malawi is not a pleasant experience. I imagine the sense of confinement you feel when the iron gate clangs shut behind you, as well as the palpable frustration and despondency in the air is universal to a prison no matter which country it is in. But because the country of Malawi is so poor, the few prisons I’ve visited here seem especially desolate. I visited Mikuyu Prison just this past week along with many of the students and staff of Zomba Theological College. Mikuyu is Malawi’s most infamous prison: it was constructed by the dictator Hastings Kamuzu Banda to hold political prisoners, i.e. voices subversive to his regime. Many significant voices for freedom and human rights in Malawi were silenced in Mikuyu—always without a trial and often ending in execution. With this history in mind, as I entered the prison the feeling in my gut was one of God-forsakenness, with the smell of the overflowing pit toilet, unwashed clothes, and the sight of high walls with small barred windows, and a small courtyard crowded with hundreds of inmates.

Mikuyu Prison sign

But of course Mikuyu is not God forsaken. And our College went there precisely to remind the prisoners that Jesus loves them and that the church hasn’t forgotten them. This is a big step for the Zomba Theological College community. Prison chaplaincy (in other words pastoral care for prisoners) isn’t widespread by any means among the churches, and where it exists, it is typically underfunded and understaffed. Shame plays an important role in Malawian society, and many of the prisoners are neglected for having brought shame upon their families, communities, and (if they are baptized) churches. ZTC staff are hoping to make pastoral visits to the various prisons in our area a regular part of the students’ outreach and pastoral formation. However, in Malawi one cannot visit another’s home with empty hands! Appropriate gifts need to be brought. And the College was struggling to find the money to bring to the prisoners a few items they desperately needed. A small grant of money through International Ministries, Presbyterian Church in Canada was a God-send. It allowed students to buy boxes of soap and Vaseline for the inmates’ hygienic needs, as well as sugar and even a few goats for their meals.

The officer in charge of the prison was full of gratitude to the College and to the PCC. As the prisoners cheered and clapped, she mentioned that funds are so scarce at present that their one meal per day is often missed; the inmates never have meat and rarely sugar for their porridge.

She also made a point that struck me: don’t look too hard in judgment on these boys, she said, for maybe the next Nelson Mandela is among them. This was not only a discreet way of saying that perhaps not every one incarcerated at Mikuyu deserves to be there, it was also a reminder to the prisoners not to lose hope. Canadian Presbyterians can take heart in having provided the means—from a great distance!—for ZTC students to offer a “cold cup of water to the least of these” (Matt 10:42).