Rising from the Rubble

“It is interesting how Jesus always sends the people he helps back into their communities,” writes Eleanor Clitheroe, PF Canada’s Executive Director, in her new book, Women Rising.   “Restoration, both personal and social, begins with this gracious command, this gracious invitation, to rise.”

This concept of rising from a bad experience to a new beginning, and of reconnecting with the community in a better, more positive way, is not foreign to Eleanor.  Unlike the women profiled in the book, Eleanor has never committed a crime nor been incarcerated, but she did suffer public rejection and an abrupt end to her previous way of life when she was fired from her high-profile job as president and CEO of Hydro One, a large electricity delivery company in Canada.  Without warning, she lost her career, her income, and a large part of her identity.  The very public firing left her with a damaged reputation and the need to make a new start.  “I had little left but the support of my immediate family and close friends, and my faith in God,” she recalls.

It was her strong faith in God that helped Eleanor to begin again.  After two five-day spiritual retreats, Eleanor decided to go back to school and become an Anglican minister.  She completed a master of divinity and became an assistant curate at an Anglican church Ontario, where she is known as “Reverend Ellie.”  But before she graduated, she received “the call”—literally—to work with prisoners.  Prison Fellowship Canada “called and wondered whether I would be interested in getting involved with prison ministry,” she explains.  It was a call she was happy to accept because she knew her previous experience would help her to help others begin again.  “I had a lot of help and support to bring myself to a place where I could feel I was worth something,” she explains, “and so I wanted to give back to someone else.”

The first prisoner she “gave back to” in her new role as Executive Director of PF Canada was Dewey, one of the young women profiled in the book, Women Rising.  “She was the first person I visited with when I came into Prison Fellowship and she was such an inspiration of the transformation that God can have in a person’s life,” says Eleanor. 

Several years ago, Dewey seemed to have the perfect life--a good job, a loving husband and three beautiful children.  However, things were not as they seemed.  Dewey’s marriage was in trouble and her husband was having an affair.  Feeling she had had enough, she told her husband of her plans to leave him and the children at home while she visited her sister on an extended trip.  At first he agreed, but later that night he came home in a fitful rage.  They had a loud argument that turned physical when they both fought for control of a knife.  When it was over, she had a knife wound that left her blind in one eye and her husband lay dying from a chest and neck wound.  She was charged with his murder and after accepting a plea bargain, was sentenced to five years in prison.  Those years in prison and on bail led her to a new faith in God that would help change her life.  “God is a God of second chances,” Dewey says in the book.  “We need to trust him and wait on him, believing by faith that we can make it in spite of the worst of odds.” 

That is the message of Women Rising, which is edited by Eleanor Clitheroe and produced by PF Canada.  It features the inspiring stories of Dewey, Stephanie, and Vivienne, who was once imprisoned for drug trafficking in Jamaica and now works as a staff member for PF Canada.  Like “Reverend Ellie,” they have all risen above their prior circumstances and found ways to reconnect with their communities in positive ways, all thanks to the grace of God. 

For more information on Women Rising visit PF Canada’s website at www.prisonfellowship.ca.