“I was in prison and you came to visit me…”

Gerrit sends this powerful testimony of God’s work in the prisons of Rwanda:

On January 18th, 2011, my 3 South African friends, Nico van der Merwe, Francois van Niekerk & Pieter Faure went with Deo and I to the Rilima Prison to experience firsthand what the Lord is doing here in Rwanda.

The prison sits on about 40 hectares and we saw many prisoners working outside the prison walls.  The head of the prison received us warmly and shared with us their philosophy of restorative justice – an approach which seeks to help the perpetrators of a crime to be rehabilitated and prepared to re-enter society as a productive and redeemed member.  They have many agricultural projects, including the raising of farm animals.  Prisoners are taught various skills to enable them to find a job after their sentence is complete.  There are no escapes from the prison, which is very telling.

We entered the prison walls to the sound of singing and were welcomed by more than 3000 prisoners, many who were perpetrators during the Genocide.

The mood in this prison was different from ones I had visited previously and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.  The South Africans were asked to introduce themselves and when Francois spoke he said how impressed he was with the country and it’s exemplary leader, President Kagame.  There was some murmuring and also some hisses, and I didn’t know what to make of it – was it good or bad? Later we found out that some Genocide prisoners were unhappy that the President was not issuing pardons as he did before.  I can’t comment on this issue as I have no knowledge of it, but we must remember that these prisoners have committed heinous crimes and many of those still in prison are unrepentant.

The prisoners sang some beautiful gospel songs before I was introduced and some of us danced and praised God with all our might!  I still stand amazed that God has me doing this ministry in the prisons of Rwanda and using my racist past to bring the message of reconciliation to these prisoners.

I spoke about my past and growing up in a separated (apartheid) society, where I learned to hate and distrust just about every people group who were not Afrikaners, and that I also came to hate all black people and eventually came up with a plan to exterminate as many of them as possible.  It becomes very quiet when I say these things and I believe that it is because there is so much similarity in my former hatred and what happened in Rwanda.  I spoke about dehumanizing people so that one could justify killing them by calling them baboons, snakes, rats and cockroaches.  That is what happened in Rwanda before the Genocide — so when I share my testimony,  it “hits home” with them.   The more I work in the prisons the more I become aware that Satan’s strategy of “divide and conquer” is the same all over the world: separate people from one another through hatred, mistrust and unforgiveness and they are separated from God as well.  Simple, but it works extremely well!

I told them that the only way to be reconciled with God their Father is to repent and receive Jesus Christ who took the penalty for their crimes upon himself and laid down His life for them so that they may have life eternal. I shared with them how Jesus came into my own life and how I had to repent of my intentions for murder and Genocide.

The prisoners responded with enthusiasm and probably half of them rededicated their lives or received Jesus for the first time as we prayed over them.  I was physically touched by many as we left, asking me to return to teach more.

Our next stop was at the Genocide Memorial at Nturama where 10,000 men, women, children and babies were massacred inside a Catholic church over a period of 4 days. Another 45,000 were killed in the surrounding neighborhoods.  It was a sickening and sobering experience for everyone as we pondered the depth of depravity human beings can descend into when devoid of God in their lives.

But, as the apostle Paul said, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory in Jesus Christ” (1 Cor.15:57). Those who have repented and asked for forgiveness are now new creations in Christ and all over Rwanda people have started  living in unity, peace and community, praising God together for what He has done.  Truly, here we can see that what Satan meant for evil during the 100 days of Genocide in 1994, God has turned around for His glory! Rwanda is a light shining in the darkness of Africa and here our challenge is to nurture the beginnings of this flame to allow it to burn across the Continent to the glory of God.

Pray for God’s protection over the land, it’s leaders & people.  God bless Rwanda!

Gerrit Wolfaardt+