Stepping Out & Stepping Free

Pastor Semi, our team leader in Lautoka, wanted to mentor four young men that were part of his church. Having taught StepOut-StepFree in Lautoka and Ba prisons he decided he try it out with these young men.

The first week went well, as did the second. In fact it all went well, so well in fact that the numbers kept growing and Pastor Semi had to keep going back to the start as the original four grew by word of mouth to seventeen - young and older, men and women.

The impact of this StepOut-StepFree is still being measured. In simple terms it brought people back to church life and engagement; it grew faith and a passion for God; it built new strength where people were weak; it reconciled people to Christ and each other. We had seen and evidenced this in the classes behind the walls, however it was thanks to Covid-19 and Semi’s heart that we got to road-test StepOut-StepFree in the community.

Enjoy the video of Tai, one of the two young men who were so inspired by the impact of StepOut-StepFree on their own lives that they have both now joined the OF team as volunteers.

Pray for Pastor Semi and the OF team as we engage in the ministry of restoring lives and restoring communities for the glory of Jesus Christ.

Yellow Ribbon Celebration

The first Yellow Ribbon Parade was held on a bright sunny Suva Saturday morning in 2008. As we walked from Albert Park, along Victoria Parade to Ratu Sakuna Park, it was a novel assembly of corrections officers, inmates, ex-inmates, government leaders, and the wider community.

There was huge excited anticipation as the past Commissioner, Brigadier General Ioane Naivalurua, led the Fiji Corrections Service in a new approach of giving a second chance for prisoners. Prisons and prisoners were no longer being hidden away but encouraged to participate in their rehabilitation, and return healed to their family and community.

Peter & Jemimah at the first Yellow Ribbon Parade with inmates from Nasinu Prison. (11 October 2008)

As an annual event in Fiji’s calendar the Yellow Ribbon Parade has grown to be part of the identity of who we aspire to be as Fijian people: a community that believes in investing in the least to provide a second chance.

A few weeks ago, it was another Saturday morning where over 4000 people came together to celebrate the 2022 Yellow Ribbon Parade in Suva. This was no longer a short stroll between the two main parks in Suva but a stretching and invigorating 6km walk. Wearing our yellow t-shirts we embarked on the route with our return being celebrated by breakfast, exhibitions, and tremendous music being provided by the Yellow Ribbon Band made up of officers and inmates.

Peter, Jemimah & Jill at the 2022 Yellow Ribbon Walk starting line

What does it take to change the stigma and attitudes towards prisoners? A courageous and consistent investment by a community wanting to live out justice and mercy!

Peter & Jill with the serving Fiji Corrections Commissioner; Commander Francis Kean with grandson, and previous Corrections Commissioner; Lt Colonel (ret) Ifereimi Vasu (2nd right) in the background.

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