Facing peace within prison walls
Judy Roles and Sarah Lane write about a moving experience with prisoners at HMP Long Lartin, Worcestershire
I believe peace is not gotten from a silver plate.
You need to work for it.
You have to do something extraordinary.
Sometimes seeking for peace demands that you swallow your pride.
Sometimes it means that you let go your power.
The power in you… to dominate has to be let go.
The superiority complex in you has to let go
So you remain flexible enough
So that you can be able to change your position.
These words from the testimony of Benard Lismadi Agona spoke powerfully to men attending our programmed Meeting for Worship in the chapel of HMP Long Lartin prison during a Sunday morning in August. The exhibition This Light that Pushes Me, which celebrates the work of African peacebuilders, had been showing in the prison chapel throughout August and up to eighty men daily had the opportunity to view the twenty photographic panels during coffee breaks while attending education or chaplaincy groups. The exhibition was the focus for our Quaker-led worship, which included testimonies, songs, a Bible reading and a period of silence to reflect on the peacebuilders’ words. And so it was that we held a Programmed Meeting in a style Agona might be familiar with in Kenya, where he works as a Quaker pastor and educator.
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