#306 Women in Prison #2

Updates to This Project

Permalink Update from Doug Penner on April 12, 2010 at 7:33am

Email from Mike...

I am trusting God to help us release more women this time round so if there is any funds that can help us do this will be highly appreciated. The prison wardens are so amazed in what God is doing through the Impact Nations. They have even promised to reduce some of the charges so that many can be released.

Because of this we have been experiencing revival hence many people have been coming because of the testimonies of then that have come out of Prison by the help of Impact Nations. It’s my prayer that God will open more door so that all the women with minor penalties get out as much as possible. Keep on winning in Jesus name.

Yours in His service,

Rev. Mike L. Brawan
Senior Pastor
Metro Church International

Permalink Update from Doug Penner on April 12, 2010 at 9:18am

Email from Mike...

Thank you so much for your help, you have no idea how the City of Nakuru is blessed by the Impact Nations. I have been in touch with the Prison and they are so happy to realize that we are organizing to release 16 more people.

3 Prisoners who are serving more terms with the children and other 13 very minor term. The children to come out with their mothers are 11 in number.

God bless you so much.

Yours,

Rev. Mike L. Brawan
Senior Pastor
Metro Church International

Permalink Update from Doug Penner on April 15, 2010 at 8:56am

Check out this promo video from Ed Kang - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOaZjXnptL4

Permalink Update from Doug Penner on May 3, 2010 at 1:00pm

From Mike Brawan: The attached are some of the Women who have been released by the help and donations from Impact Nations. Most of them are women with small children; some have even buried their children in Prisons.

By the help of Impact Nations 16 women where released recently.

Permalink Update from Mike Brawan on May 6, 2010 at 3:12am

Doug Penner said:

From Mike Brawan: The attached are some of the Women who have been released by the help and donations from Impact Nations. Most of them are women with small children; some have even buried their children in Prisons.

By the help of Impact Nations 16 women where released recently.

Permalink Update from Doug Penner on May 25, 2010 at 1:57pm

One of the main reasons we have all our projects out in full view of the world is to allow everyone to scrutinize and validate our work in the developing world.

I recently received an email wondering if this whole thing was too good to be true...

I am from Kenya originally and have family in Nakuru and have never heard of such things as is being described in the 'Women in Prison' project by Mike Brawan. I implore you to investigate prior to taking further action to ensure its validity. I do admit that the venture holds prison for empowering the women, but I can speak for the nation of Kenya as they would not stand for this. I have talked to family back home and family friends here who are from Nakuru who all say the same thing. This is not a legitimate cause and such imprisonment does not occur in Kenya.
City Councils do not have the right to imprison locals. They can only issue fines which are approximately 500KSHS($6-7CDN). They can request to the offender to vacate their setup if it is public property but this is all the power they have.

Please note that they are many causes which are genuine and do make a difference in the lives of people in nations such as Kenya. Do not let this case deter Impact Nations or yourself to continue providing assistance to these causes and changing the lives of the people in desperate need. I applaud your efforts and pray God to give you strength to continue.


So I checked with our partner Kennedy Nyagudi. Here's Kennedy's bio:

The Honorable Kennedy Nyagudi from Kenya (East Africa) is a former Parliament member for Kisumu Town 2003 – 2007 (the third largest city in Kenya). He is the founder of Praise Development in Kenya, which is putting shoes on shoeless children -- feeding the hungry -- drilling wells and putting in pumping stations for people who desperately need clean water.
He is the past Kenyan Director for Dominion Group of Companies in Kenya.

He is the Director of several companies dealing in Real Estate, Mining, Hotel and Agriculture.
Hon Kennedy Nyagudi is married to Winnie and has three children.


Kennedy responded via email...

Hi Doug, Thanks for your mail and concern.
I am aware that Mike has been working a lot with the prisons officers and prisoners. I am also aware that he has taken many missionaries to the prisons to donate foodstuff etc and also to conduct crusades and prayer meetings.

I can confirm that there are petty offenders that are fined and after failing to raise bail, they are normally taken to prison and if they are women and have children, they take the children with them to prison until someone pays the bail for them. I am sure this is what Mike has been trying to do.

I have read the letter from one of the people in Canada (I presume) and the misinformation he has is that the council imprisoned the women. The council would arrest the offenders for various reasons and arraign them in a court of law where they are charged with the committed offenses and fined. If they fail to raise bail, they are sent to prison.

I believe that this is a worthy cause and should be encouraged. For purposes of accountability and transparency, Mike needs to send regular reports and pictures and even a letter from the prison authorities to verify the releases. I hope this will deal with any kind of misunderstanding and will build credibility to the project.

I look forward to seeing you soon. [Kennedy will be in Vancouver in two weeks]

Kenn

Permalink Update from Steve Stewart on May 25, 2010 at 2:07pm

Hi Doug,
Yesterday I had a talk with Kennedy about what Mike Brawan is doing in releasing the women and children from the Nakuru prison. He clarified 2 things for me:
1. All across Kenya, if a mother is sentenced to prison and she has a young child or children, the children go into the prison with them because they have no one to take care of the child at home.
2. In the second group of women released, a woman named Kezia was featured. Since getting out of prison (because her fine was paid by Impact Nations), she has started a hotel. When I asked Kenn how could a woman come from prison and start a hotel, it led to a very interesting discussion about terminology: a hotel is not what we have in the west. It is a small kiosk where people can by porridge, a cold drink or some fruit. It is a simple stand with 4 poles and a plastic or reed roof. When Kenn realized what we thought Kezia had started, he had a big laugh. So much for the English language!!