Liberian Inmates Experience Freedom in Jesus Christ

In between sewing projects at Monrovia Central Prison, Garmai, 45, reads from Matthew’s Gospel. She has her own Bible now and the Word of God has become like food for her. The women in her sewing class have become like family.

There has been a miracle in her life.

It’s not clear exactly what crime landed her here and separated her from her daughter and the outside world, but it is obvious that she’s not the woman she was before.

“I was just angry,” she said. “I was always thinking of evil things to do. I had no peace. I just wanted to be alone. I really didn’t like to forgive. I wanted to pay back. So, all my life I have been struggling with revenge.”

God has now turned her life of alienation, bitterness, and tragedy into a beautiful testament of the grace and forgiveness that come from knowing our Lord Jesus Christ.

Finding New Life and Freedom Behind Bars

Over the last several years, Samaritan’s Purse teams in Liberia have been working in the country’s prisons to provide food, water, sanitation, livelihoods programming, and to share the Good News of Jesus Christ among inmates whose hope was all but lost. The programme is aptly called Hope for a Brighter Future.

For many of the inmates, it could be years before they receive a court date. Having a fair trial in a reasonable timeframe is not likely. Some may be in prison until they die.

But God is working in the midst of these circumstances to make disciples who live faithfully during their incarceration. This has been Garmai’s experience. Just when she thought her life was over, a new life was beginning.
 

Developing New Eyes and Lifelong Skills

Even as she learnt the highly valued skills of sewing and tailoring, she also learnt how to study the Word of God. Through our discipleship programme, God began to open her eyes to the truth of the Gospel.

“My family had rejected me. The world had rejected me. When I came here I thought: I’m in a tomb where I can’t see nobody around me,” she said. “But then I had to face God, and I gave Him my life.

“Now I have a peace I have never received before, and I received it while I am here. In prison,” she continued. “Samaritan’s Purse came in. They’re my family now.”

Garmai has since graduated from the discipleship programme and the sewing classes.

She now assists the sewing instructors and helps the other women learn the same practical skills she learned—skills that can provide an income after prison, as well as a small amount behind bars. Also, among items that the women sew are reusable sanitary pads for themselves, as the prison does not provide any hygiene items. The classes also provide Garmai new opportunities to connect with other women.

“I just feel released,” she said, reciting her favourite verse, Matthew 5:16, which she memorised in recent weeks.

“Let your light so shine before men,” she said. “That they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. That good work is what I want them to see in me. I want people to see the light of Christ in me.”