Restoration in Nanuku Commmunity

The journey began with a WhatsApp message in response to a series of community building posts we had placed on our Operation Foundation Facebook page. It was a simple request asking for help. What has begun in Nanuku is a new restorative engagement for Operation Foundation.

Nanuku Community is a collection of 385 dwellings on a small piece of land on the Suva foreshore. In high tide the sea water covers about a third of the land. In this economic downturn it has been drug trafficking and prostitution that has been keeping food on the tables. Facing this, it has been a rollercoaster journey of working together with the community to bring change and restoration.

In beginning the process of change, Nanuku has begun paving new footpaths in all sectors. Because Nanuku is built on reclaimed land, the community ground remains swampy or partially submerged quite often. Making new pathways has been only one component of Operation Foundations partnership plan with the community to making Nanuku safer. And it was with much gratitude that Operation Foundation and the people of the community received multiple donations of soapstone from the RFMF for the footpaths. With the new and improved footpaths making walking through the community easier and safer, many people were optimistic about other innovative changes that would be happening in the future.

Following on a little more, on the 15th of October, Nanuku Community celebrated 100 days of change. This occasion marked a milestone for the people, who despite their lack of resources and limitations imposed due to Covid-19, worked together with Operation Foundation to clean up and set their community on the path to a better future. Some of these new initiatives were, as simple as running a community clean-up day, to rebuilding footpaths, and even beginning classes with primary school children in the community. Guests at the ceremony included representatives from various church denominations, NGO’s, Beacon Media, USP, and the former chef de mission for Tokyo 2020, Mr. Patrick Bower who was also the chief guest. The visitors were pleasantly surprised at the positive atmosphere in the community, and the passion showed during the community development reports. Reports of progress from the different sectors were shared with the audience, with many speakers expressing gratitude for the visible improvements in the community, and hope for continuous and consistent development.

Education Initiative for Nanuku

On the 21st of October, Operation Foundation, together with Beacon Media began partnering with members of Nanuku Community to provide free training for parents who were interested in teaching primary school students.

Free literacy and numeracy classes for children in classes 2 and 3 also began running in the community, with a select number of mothers rising to the challenge to teach, despite their own limitations. Covid-19 has severely disrupted education in Fiji.

Although informal classes have been running in the community since August, a recent survey done by the Beacon Media team found that in a group of 45 students, many of the students tested were well below their reading level, and the rest could not read at all. This number accounts for around 25% of the primary school students in the community. Because of this, urgency has been given to the children’s education project, with Operation Foundation working closely with Beacon Media to boost the level of literacy and numeracy in the community, beginning with the children, and develop the skills of the selected parent-teachers as well.

The training classes for parents began on the 4th of November and are expected to conclude in January of 2022. The literacy and numeracy classes for the children are being conducted simultaneously and are expected to continue for 2022 and forward. Budgets are being worked on to ensure that the appropriate resources are available as this initiative rolls out.

We are excited to see how things move into place, and what long term impact this may have for the education of the children in Nanuku, and the community at large.

Leadership Retreat for Nanuku Community

On Wednesday the 10th of November 2021, the people of Nanuku took part in the first retreat hosted by Operation Foundation for leaders of the community.

For the 22 leaders who participated in the retreat, it was a time of self-reflection, creative input, and leadership development. Following the story of Nehemiah in the Bible, the leaders went through the metaphoric “ruins” the community was currently in, but also looked at a vision of rebuilding and restoration for the future of Nanuku. There was a time of reflection, where many of the leaders gave feedback on what their current stand in the community was, and how they would like to change to become better leaders.

Continuing with the idea of rebuilding and restoration in the community, the leaders took a look at real time examples for community development and engagement, in terms of large-scale farming and home gardening.

Together with members of the Operation Foundation team, the leaders then did a SWOT analysis for Nanuku community and gained a clearer picture on how to move forward with changes. The day ended on a positive note where leaders spoke about the new ideas they had learnt, which could be implemented in the community immediately; and again, took the time to self-reflect on how they could become better leaders who could pave the way for change in the community.

As Operation Foundation continues to partner with the people of Nanuku, it is our prayer that God would be glorified through the restoration of the community.

Finding Justice

We are seeing an energetic scrutiny of the justice system emerge in Western countries, sparked by the publicised murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. The fuel for the fire, however, has long been laid by the systems for which deconstruction is now being called.

    Justice cannot be made complete without true restoration, and yet in the name of justice we have designed a system based on retribution. This fale justice is easy - as Angela Davis writes, “It relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism.” Something as warped as this is easily abused - what ought to be a shield we have reforged into a weapon and then turned on the defenseless. The consequence of allowing this to happen is what we have seen in recent weeks.

    Some of us are coming to a true understanding of this for the first time. We must acknowledge, however, that for far too many this has been the reality and fact of life for generations. For our blindness - our complicity - we can only repent and ask for forgiveness before committing to do better. There is a need for deeper listening to those who have been marginalised and subjugated by the machine of greed and hate we named justice. The indigenous, the unassimilated, the colonised, the enslaved, and the oppressed have been suffering under the Western evolution of retributive justice for far too long, and their voices go far enough back that we should be ashamed at the hour of our awakening.

    Justice is not just about a response to wrongdoing - justice is a righteousness in all things; justice is caring for the widow and the orphan. Justice is feeding the hungry and clothing the poor. Justice is speaking for the voiceless, and standing with those who, right now, stand against the systems set against them. Operation Foundation, as an organisation and individuals, has a heart for restorative justice - rehabilitation and renewal are at the core of our cooperation with the incarcerated. We are, however, as complicit as any in the fact that so much pain, grief, and trauma took place before the voice of the oppressed rose above the cacophony of our own privilege, and for this we ask forgiveness. We therefore ask that you join us in acknowledging and supporting the movement against our system of injustice, and listening to the voices of those it has maimed.

by Edward Schultz on behalf of Operation Foundation

Reflections in Mercy

Blessed are the merciful…, declares a statement of simplicity, so simple that the common path is to skip across these words, just giving a mental consent to their value while most often avoiding what it is to bring those same words to reflection and faithful practice.

Indeed our engagement in daily life affirms our recognition of the underlying value of mercy in our communities; the coin to the pavement beggar, the donation to the unfolding disaster, perhaps our silence to the gossip, or the looking past a problem in a colleague to see their back story.

Our ministry engagement within the justice arena, the rehabilitation of prisoners specifically, has provided rich exposure and some learnings. What is exposed are the limitations of our justice systems because justice is never an end in itself.

However, scripture is full of the expressions and illustrations that unfold the goal and impact of justice and mercy. From the first clothes provided to the hiding and naked couple in the garden of Eden; the invitation to Zacchaeus to leave the isolated life as an outsider and engage as a participant; to the unexpected promise of relationship to the thief on the cross.

Yet despite the biblical encouragements we often still have a desire to stop short, to seek a fulfillment in a justice, perhaps a justice of our own making. It’s as if sometimes we take a private ownership of what is right and wrong, base our belief system upon it and thereby neglect the scriptural next step – the call to show mercy, the call to love the other, love of even our enemies!

Thomas Aquinas probably expressed it best when he wrote, “Mercy does not abolish justice, but fulfils it or exceeds it.” [1] We observe this in the Parable of the Lost Son as recorded in Luke 15. Despite immense personal loss the Father seemingly skips the justice step and re-embraces the son with mercy and re-establishes his sonship, while the older brother gets all tangled up in seeking his satisfaction in the dictates of personal grievance and self-serving justice.

Justice finds its satisfaction in Mercy! Justice has its focus on the failure and the acceptable remedy to right the wrong. Mercy has its focus on human dignity! On the recovery and restoration of person-hood, of being reinstalled to community, so that the wrong is destroyed. The Parable of the Lost Son portrays these elements in abundance.

While it is easy to encounter the themes of mercy in a parable what stands as a convicting witness are the repeated actions of mercy in Jesus’ daily life. Jesus’ purposeful interactions with the lepers, the disabled, the adulterous, the prostitutes, the tax-collector, the Samaritan women. All these actions were framed within mercy and all had the action of connecting richly with the least and the most despised in that society. As Jesus did this, he encountered incredible hostility and we should expect no less if we dare to show a similar mercy. However, this hostility stands in contrast to the impact on those receiving mercy – for them it was the beginning of transformation!

As we encounter the practice of mercy, we also encounter risk. The risk of loving the incomplete other; the risk of thinking of others and indeed believing in others for the better; the risk of giving and giving and giving, the risk of being let-down or hurt. Collectively these risks bump up against the autonomy and self-sufficiency of our own person-hood, and if we are honest the acceptable practice of our society. It is in these places of practice that we begin to push against the grain, deny ourselves, pick up a cross and follow the One who is all of Mercy.

The call to mercy does not ignore the dictates of justice but is the true call to fallen humanity [2]. A call based in an action of such stunning proportions that it is everything counter-cultural - the death of the son of God.

This same call we hear today has echoed before in history - as Jesus unrolled the scroll in the synagogue and declared ‘good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners, sight for the blind, release of the oppressed, proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor’ [3]. A declaration of mercy revealed with all of its incredible risk-filled assistance and favour.

Do we accept the call to being merciful so that we can complete the commandment – ‘love your neighbour as yourself’?

We do accept the call and push on further so that Jesus Christ is glorified again and again in our communities and yes, even in prison communities.

We do accept the call and push on further so that our neighbour, the broken one, our enemy, is restored into the fellowship of love - for ‘God so loved the world that he gave…’ and risked all of Himself in being merciful for the undeserving and least of all people – me.

Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy. Matthew 5:7 [4]

 ~ Peter Schultz

1. Thomas Aquinas, Super Evangelium S, Matthaei, cap. 5, lc. 2

2. John 3:17, For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save...

3. Luke 4:17-19, New International Version (NIV) Bible, Zondervan Publishers, 1985

4. Matthew 5:7, New International Version (NIV) Bible, Zondervan Publishers, 1985

You Have Loved Us - The Least of Men

“This feels like revival,” was one of the comments received from one of the participants partway through our Sex-Offender Treatment Program in Naboro prison – a six-week journey of soul-bearing self-examination leading many to brokenness. From such a place one can discover the realisation of horrific destruction or incredible healing; for many of these sex-offenders both outcomes had become a reality. But a question remained - For men feared and regarded as the ‘least of the least’ in our societies is a ‘revival’ really possible?

 “How long are we stuck in this program for?” was the opening question, asked with force and hostility at the start of the six weeks. The group of 41 men were closed off and reluctant to engage. Knowing that this is inevitable for any non-voluntary program in prison, the first couple of weeks were spent engineering the dynamics of the group towards a buying-in of this journey together. As spirituality is the most common ground between anyone in Fiji, a faith-based starting point became familiar and respected ground by each member of the group. Finally after ten days, the questions were no longer combative, but demonstrative of a curiosity and then an ownership of the journey.

Every sinner has subconsciously formed a narrative of self-justification and sex-offenders are no exception. As long as this narrative stands in the way of truth and accountability the process of rehabilitation is impossible. Our goal was to create a dissonance between each man and their self-justification narrative and this was accomplished by leading with our vulnerability, and building the safe space for painful self-examination. As the narratives broke down we came upon many unaddressed point of brokenness, each contributing to the path of dysfunction and sin. For many of these men, abuse they experienced at a young age were places of unaddressed brokenness.

 “I haven’t slept all night because God has shown me my own story,” said one man soberly the day after an intense case study. He then stood in front of the group and shared how he could trace the beginning of his long story of sexual deviation to his abuse at five years old. This ownership of what he’d done was soon shared by the rest of the group as different men began to disclose the destruction they were responsible for, some of which they had denied for years.

An important aspect of this treatment program, one we can all learn from, is the Mercy of God. It is in God’s mercy that true justice is satisfied; and for these despised men who found themselves lost in a cycle of destruction, this truth was the most exciting. “You have loved us – the least of men,” was the tearful prayer on the final day.

 Operation Foundation is engaged in the treatment for those who have committed sexual crimes against others. Phase-2 treatment will begin with these 41 men in June 2019.