When Becoming a Christian Means Becoming a Prisoner

Irene’s life immediately became more difficult when she became a Christian. She knew her conversion meant more than the mere acceptance of a belief system, her life would have to change. Irene was a thief—she had been secretly stealing money from the bank where she worked. Many in her position might have simply made the decision to stop stealing and left it at that. A confession, an admission of guilt, would surely have dire consequences. But Irene chose to do the right thing and make restitution for her crime. She wanted to follow Christ, even if it meant following him into a crowded, decaying, disease-ridden prison. First, she had to convince the bank’s executives that she had actually stolen the funds. 

Since she had doctored the books, it didn’t appear that any money was missing, even after the bank’s annual audit, so they didn’t believe her when she told them of her crime. But Irene persisted, demonstrating how the were funds taken. The bank officials gave her one month to return the missing amount. She didn’t have the money, so at the end of the month, she received a three-year prison sentence. 

Now Irene, a single mother, had to find guardians for her young children, and faced the prospect of life inside a dilapidated prison. Accepting her fate as the consequence of her crime, Irene asked her aged parents to take her children and willingly began her sentence. Although the prison conditions were daunting, her foremost concern was her children. Without her income to support them, she worried whether her parents could adequately care for them. It was an alarming concern she discovered many of her fellow prisoners shared.  

She also noticed that most of her cellmates feared leaving prison because they faced an uncertain future with no support. Irene says she still remembers “the way some women would cry the whole night because they were going to be released the following day, and they had nowhere to go and nothing to put on.”

While in prison, however, Irene and her cellmates did receive much needed support from PF Uganda, which she deeply appreciated. As a new Christian, she especially valued the Bible studies and classes PF offered. “With the teachings PF Uganda volunteers brought in, I was able not only to grow, but also to teach other inmates who were getting saved,” Irene says.  

Grateful for the work of PF and empathizing with the continuing needs of prisoners, Irene enthusiastically volunteered with PF Uganda two years after her release. Twelve years later, in 2009, Irene became the ministry’s executive director. She did not forget the cries of her fellow prisoners as they feared for their children and worried about their future. Irene and PF staff plan to begin a children’s home by renting a house for two years and then purchasing land to build their own home. Soon, children with nowhere to go while their parents are in prison will find safety and refuge in PF’s children’s shelter. In the meantime, PF Uganda staff and volunteers are caring for prisoners’ children through the Family Link programme. PF volunteers visit the children, assess their needs and offer financial assistance for schooling—primary school fees can be as much as $300 USD per year. Whenever they visit the children, PF volunteers bring them supplies, including soap, sugar, and clothes. Some of the volunteers have even taken the children into their own homes when necessary. PF’s Family Link volunteers also take the children for visits with their incarcerated parents and deliver the parents’ messages to the children. PF Uganda has already helped more than 87 families through this programme.

“There is nothing as frustrating as being released from prison [when] you are faced with the challenge of accommodation [and] no source of income,” explains Irene, so PF Uganda is working to address that problem by starting a halfway house for ex-prisoners who have nowhere to go. They have already identified a building near the capital city of Kampala, and they plan to provide skills training and transitional aid.

Irene was a new Christian when she entered prison in 1992, but it didn’t take her long to realize that with her new faith came consequences and responsibilities; she accepted both willingly. Thanks to her commitment, the women in Uganda’s prisons may now be shedding a few less tears for themselves and their children.