The King Entered Before Us

Luzira Women's Prison - Part II

As we entered the prison I noticed that a group of women guards were in formation next to the gates. They were maneuvering their rifles and stances as we entered. I stopped to watch and was told, "keep moving". I wondered what was going on, but not being allowed to stop, and with the thought of ministering to the women on my mind, the thought quickly vanished.

Once we finished ministry inside the main hall of the prison, we all had to exit the facility. I'm not exactly sure why, but they escorted us out only to re-enter into our specific groups. The group of women guards at the gate was no longer in site.

We went upstairs and waited as they gathered specific women into groups. It was hot, and it was muggy. The team gathered and talked about the groups they would minister to. Some asked to change groups as they were in the same groups last year and wanted to experience something different.
We had 4 groups of women to minister to:

• Mothers with children
• Students
• HIV/AIDS
• Special needs

Each team entered the designated area for the groups. Some were brought upstairs into the rooms and others were still behind the gates and barbed wire.
Even though we all went in separate groups, the initial orientation was basically the same. We introduced ourselves and then began ministering to the women. Part of the ministry was to ask for special needs, or prayer requests and share scripture that would encourage, uplift and draw them to Jesus.

Once we gathered together we found that most of the requests were the same within each group. They asked for more food, bedding, and personal hygiene products.
Many of the women in each group expressed an emotional plea to find their family and specifically their children. Many were taken in the middle of the night, or at the scene of the crime. They have no way of communicating to children or family left behind, or to tell those family members that had no idea they were arrested where they were.

We took names and addresses down and told them that we would do what we could to track down their family and children. The women would come to us and kneel down before us pleading for information and help. Some have been behind bars for years with no idea what's happened to their children. They asked for specific prayer, and we would lay hands on them and pray. We were able to pass out baby clothes to women present with infants. As always God knew just what we would need!
It was also interesting to know that as we shared scripture with them and prayed with them, that the prison guards also asked us for specific prayer for their families.

Once we completed our ministry in our groups we gathered back outside the gates. Each group began to emerge one by one. As the group with the HIV/AIDS women came out, they were extremely distressed. A couple of the team members were visibly upset. Emily, who is in school and wanting to start a career in the medical field was so moved by the women. She felt like she should have been able to help them now. She was overwhelmed with emotion.
The group that was with the special needs women were excited and overwhelmed at once. There were 3 women in their group that accepted Christ as LORD during their visit.
We can only know that God allowed each person in each group to experience Him in amazing ways.
It's still amazing to me that we could meet with a group of women in the hall and experience Gods presence as if we were not in a prison at all, and then move to individual groups and feel His presence even more.

God has his perfect time for all good things! As we waited outside, the mattresses arrived for the women. Twenty-five mattresses were purchased for the extremely ill and mothers with infants/newborns. These women don't get to sleep on mattresses, they sleep on the ground. This was an answer to prayer for those that truly needed something more.
Chalkboards were made for the students in the prison. Unfortunately, they would not arrive this day.

Mattresses and box of Thermos's outside the Prison

Mattresses going inside the prison

It's extremely emotional to minister to those in prison. There is a burden to find true justice for those that have been falsely accused, who are taken from families in the middle of the night and never knowing the fate of their families. We are strengthened and encouraged by God each step of the way.

In the evening as we gathered around the dinner table and shared our experiences within the groups we had another unexpected detail of our ministry work in the prison.

As I stated in the beginning, there was a group of women guards in formation at the entrance of the gates as we entered. This formation is known as a "guard mount". It's only done for 3 people.

• The President of Uganda
• The Minister of Internal Affairs
• The Prison General

There were no officials on site while we were ministering in the prison that day. No fancy government cars, no attention drawn to any special officials present.
So, why then did they perform a military procedure as we entered? We will never really know for sure, we can only assume that it was because the King of Kings entered the prison that day before us!

"I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Matthew 25:36