Locked Up!

The other day Ian’s preschool teacher was reading a story about Curious George. George made a false alarm call the fire department and was put in prison.  Ian blurts out,   “My dad was in prison!  They put him in a locked the door and he couldn’t get out.  Later on they let him out, because he was locked in.”  Well other than making me look like a hardened criminal Ian was mostly right.  I was in prison, and I was locked inside and eventually they did let me out.  Only thing he left out was that I was there with nearly 40 students to play a football (soccer) match against the prisoners.

This was our second year to visit the Naivasha Maximum Security Prison.  However this year we did things a little different.  The RVA varsity team that I coach joined forces with the varsity team from Rosslyn Academy in Nairobi to play two matches against the  inmates at the prison.  The first game we lost 5-0 the second we lost 1-0.  I was not upset about losing either match.  When you are playing on a field surrounded by 25 foot high walls and lining the small space between the playing field and the wall are 3,300 inmates I’m happy to let them score as many goals as they’d like.  Actually the inmate fans are a lot of fun.  They are just happy to see some good football, so they cheer for anything that happens no matter which team does it.  If they score a goal, the crowd goes wild.  If we make a great, the crowd goes wild.  Its a lot of fun.  The best part of the day and the reason we go is the time after the game. We were able to have a time of sharing and prayer with several hundred inmates, players and fans alike.  A few of the boys shared some words of encouragement with those in the crowd, and explained to them that despite their current situation in life, true freedom can be found in Christ Jesus, even behind stonewalls and bared gates.  I don’t know that our short visit and a couple football games made a huge difference in any of those inmates lives.  But we were able to tell them that even though they are behind bars, they are not forgotten and someone cares enough to come spend the day with them.  The day was a blessing to us as a team, and me as a coach.  I can’t wait until next season.

The coaches.

One of our boys sharing his testimony after the game.