PF Bolivia Launches the Sycamore Tree Project®
“We are really enjoying Sycamore Tree,” was the opening line of a recent e-mail from Julie Noble, a volunteer with the PF Bolivia chapter in Oruro. Launched on October 4, this first pilot project has enthusiastic support from both the prison administration and the volunteer facilitators. The prisoner participants were recruited from among the parents of the children who attend the ministry’s Angel Tree Centre since there is an existing relationship with them.
All of the prisoner participants were convicted under the country’s
controlled substances law, mostly for drug trafficking. In identifying
victim participants, the ministry worked with a local drug
rehabilitation programme. They identified one woman to share how her
child’s addiction has impacted her life and that of others. As another
means of bringing victim voice to the sessions, PF volunteers recorded
interviews with some of the children of the prisoner participants about
how their parents’ imprisonment has impacted their lives.
In preparing for the project, Julie and other members of a project team
adapted materials from both PFI and PF England and Wales for the
Bolivian cultural context. Next, they used the adapted materials in
‘rehearsal’ sessions with groups at the drug rehabilitation centre, the
Christian Student Union, and among the PF Bolivia (Oruro) volunteers.
According to Julie, these rehearsal sessions helped them identify
possible issues for facilitators as well as places where slight changes
needed to be made with the programme. In each of the test settings STP
was well received. In fact, the issues of restoration seemed to
resonate particularly strongly with the drug rehabilitation centre
participants.
STP sessions, held on Saturdays, are followed by a facilitator meeting
to discuss what happened in the previous session and to plan for the
next. A prayer team was also recruited to provide support for the
project.
November 2008
