Discovering Forgiveness

Helping prisoners to see the consequences of their crimes and feel remorse for their actions is what Prison Fellowship’s Sycamore Tree Project® is all about.   One of the ways the programme accomplishes this is by showing offenders the impact that crime has on victims.  Such was the case for juvenile prisoners (ages 16 and 17) taking part in PF Netherlands’ Sycamore Tree Project® known there as “Spreken over Schuld (SOS),” which means, “Speaking about Guilt.”

The young offenders were shown a video that featured an elderly man’s daughter who told the story of how two men broke into her parents’ house and stole their family heirlooms and a valuable stamp collection.  Her father, who was alone in the house during the robbery and had been confined to a wheelchair due to Parkinson’s disease, suffered seriously declined health as a result of the incident and had to be moved to a nursing home.  After he was sent to prison, one of the robbers wrote a letter to the family expressing his remorse.  The daughter, Truus, met with the offender and presented him with a gift—a statue of a person with a pearl in his hands.  She told the prisoner that he is “a pearl in God’s hands” and has value.

“The young men in the youth prison were really touched by the forgiveness that was shown to the offender,” says Esther Klassen, staff member of PF Netherlands.  Two of the participating prisoners decided to make a painting for Truus and included the phrase, “a pearl in God’s hands.”

Truus came with her mother to receive the paintings and meet the two young men.  “It was a very moving event,” recalls Esther.  “Truus got tears in her eyes when she saw the paintings and felt how the boys were touched by their story.”  Surprised that the women had come to the prison to meet them and even more shocked at their forgiving attitude, the young prisoners asked them how they could have forgiven the men who caused them such grief.  Truus explained that they forgave because God had forgiven them. 

“When I watched the video in the SOS course,” said one of the prisoners, “I realised that this was the first time that I saw forgiveness as a reality.”  The young prisoners helped the older woman down the stairs and out of the prison building and all hugged goodbye.  “It was a special moment,” remarked Esther.  “Prison walls broke down, offenders and community met, forgiveness has become a reality once more.”