Grace at Work a Senegalese Women’s Prison

This article was updated from this blog and published in French at TPSG.

During my years in Senegal, I had the joy of serving as a prison chaplain. Those Tuesday afternoons were the highlight of my week as our team ministered through the Word and prayer to incarcerated women. Please allow me to paint a picture for you and show you the Lord at work among the marginalized women of the Maison d’arret et de correction de Thiès. 

The Dorm

Narrow foam mattresses line the walls of the two rooms that fifty incarcerated women share. A few have managed to hang up individual mosquito nets. Most go without and face the consequences of exposure to "the deadliest creature in Africa." 

The Daily Activities

The morning's activities include showers (fifty women share two showers, so you can imagine the lines!), doing laundry (which is done by hand and for which each woman has to provide her own soap), and sweeping and mopping the common areas.

Communal Meals

Breakfast, which consists of a piece of baguette with coffee or milk, is taken at around 10 or 11 AM. Each prisoner is responsible for her own morning meal, so whoever doesn't have the means to buy her bread has to fast until 2 PM, when lunch is served.

Cooking duties for the midday meal, the biggest meal of the day, are shared among the women. The prison authorities provide the rice, fish, and oil, and the cook assigned that day must furnish the spices, vegetables and garnishes that make it a meal. 

Weekly Activities & Holidays

The only thing that distinguishes one day from the other is the charitable organization's workers who come to visit that afternoon. Studies and classes by Catholics, Muslims, Evangelicals, and a secular organization offer a break from the mind-numbing monotony of life. Holidays offer another escape, as the inmates get decked out in their most beautiful outfits and the usual fish is replaced with sheep, goat, or beef, and rice makes way for vermicelli or couscous.

The evening meal is late and light, at 8 or 9 PM, and often consists of either porridge or potatoes or pasta with an onion sauce. The one-room that has a small television sees women gathering around for some evening entertainment, while others take turns showering.

Our Afternoon Bible Studies

Our Tuesday afternoon Bible studies began almost two years prior, with a Christmas party that ended with a gospel presentation and an invitation to receive Christ. Six Catholic and one Muslim woman responded, and a small Bible study began with two faithful sisters taking turns teaching via a translator. Then, the opportunity presented itself to broadcast chronological Bible storying lessons in Wolof, and both the team and the prison authorities gave the ok. Soon thereafter, our attendance doubled, with the new women consisting of Muslims. What a thrill it was to me to see these ladies who have so little exposure to the gospel taking their place on mats and stools around our little MP3 player as we listen to stories from the Word of God together. Afterwards, we have a time of question and answer, followed by prayer and song. 

The Two Most Common Crimes

Although a variety of crimes have landed these women in prison, the two most common are drug dealing and infanticide (usually committed just after giving birth, since abortion is illegal). Let me tell you a bit of the back story behind each of these. Bintou, one of the women who attends our study (in prison for a different crime), helped me get a better idea of what drives a young woman to kill her own baby. 

The Story Behind These Crimes

"When a girl comes home with all sorts of money she can't account for, her parents don't ask questions. They simply take what she shares with them and turn a blind eye to the reality of the source. But the truth is that their daughter is giving herself sexually to a man who is willing to reward her for the affection she provides. When their girl comes home pregnant, suddenly all that she has done to help provide for the family means nothing. She has brought her parents shame, and they disown her and kick her out of the house. Obviously, the guy is long gone, so the young woman finds herself in a desperate situation she sees no release from except putting an end to her baby's life upon delivery." 

I don't tell this to justify a woman's drowning her own baby in the toilet, but I think it's worth understanding the plight of women bound by such crippling poverty and ignorance. Poverty, of course, is also what drives women to the second crime I mentioned, drug dealing. In the West when we think of drug leaders, we may visualize sleazy guys who hang out near junior high schools trying to get kids hooked on drugs. From what I understand, this is far from what these women do. The more accurate term to describe them is probably mule, which in this case refers to a person who transports drugs that have been flown to West Africa from South America along an invisible highway leading to Europe. The real demand, of course, is there. These ladies aren't pushing drugs on anyone, they're just trying to survive. Again, this doesn't make it right, but knowing their story helps me better understand the women we long to reach with the love of Christ.

We are All Prodigal Sons and Daughters

As is the case whenever we as believers see people making really, bad choices, we need to remember this simple truth: We were all once prodigal sons and daughters who were embraced by the loving arms of the Father (Luke 15:11-32). Lest I fall into the sin of the judgmental older son, I often remind myself, "There go I but by the grace of God."