Father Pepe Girau Pellicer describes the experience at the Ankanful prison in Ghana. “We experience the mission in its dual dimension of proclaiming the Gospel and promoting humanity.”
The large Ankanful prison complex is located about six kilometres from Cape Coast, the Ghanaian city where we Comboni Missionaries have an international scholasticate, where I am a formator. Four young students carry out their apostolate in two of Ankanful’s six prisons.
Every Saturday morning, I accompany them by car and return home after greeting the prison director and several inmates. Previously, I would stay there all morning and return together, but I realised it was better if the young scholastics were not conditioned by the formator’s presence and if they carried out this prison ministry independently.
Our presence in Ankanful dates back to 2019. Together with the main formator, Father Antoine Kondo, we sought meaningful apostolic experiences for our young people preparing for missionary life. The opportunity arose when Father Joseph, a diocesan priest who serves as a Catholic chaplain at the prison, invited us to visit him.
In the first few months, I continued to visit the prison they call CDP, one of the most open, with inmates who have not committed crimes of violence. There are about 70 inmates, many of whom suffer from infectious diseases or are HIV-positive, although they have good medical follow-up. It appeared to be an ideal place for our youth ministry, and two of them immediately began attending. Later, we were offered the opportunity to extend the ministry to the centre called Anexe, with nearly 800 inmates. Four scholastics now attend both prisons.
On Friday afternoons, they meet to prepare the topic they will discuss the following day. Around eight in the morning on Saturday, for about an hour and a half, they gather together the inmates who wish to discuss the Sunday Word of God.
They do this in a distinctly African style, with the participation of the audience, providing examples and answering questions as they arise. It’s curious, but the inmates’ attitude toward the Word is not one of indifference.
On the contrary, they show great interest, perhaps because they live in a particularly anguished situation, deprived of their freedom and facing additional difficulties, such as food shortages. Those who participate in these meetings are not only the few Catholics present in prison, but also Methodists, Pentecostals, and Evangelicals.
After this meeting, the scholastics, who are permitted to move freely throughout the prison and even enter the cells, spend the rest of the morning conversing with the inmates in an atmosphere of camaraderie and friendship. They are frowned upon by society and are often withdrawn from it, so they greatly appreciate the “look at me” gesture, which, in a way, restores their dignity.
Sunday is the day of worship. Since there are so many Christian denominations, a list is drawn up in the prison, and when it’s the Catholics’ turn, I celebrate Mass there. Believers of all denominations participate in a sort of ecumenism. It’s wonderful to hear them sing and dance with joy, but also to maintain respectful silence during the consecration.
We Comboni Missionaries live our mission in its dual dimension of proclaiming the Gospel and promoting humanity. For this reason, we have launched a project in prison to raise rabbits and a large, tasty rodent, the great cane mouse, which they call grass cutters here.
I felt comfortable bringing the materials to build the cages and teaching the inmates how to raise these animals. It’s wonderful to see them so happy with how well they’re doing, not to mention the fact that the meat is excellent for improving the meagre state diet they receive. We also have the support of Michael, a veterinarian friend who visits the prison periodically to ensure everything is going well.
Thanks to this apostolate, we’ve made good friends, such as Philip, who was released from prison two years ago. He is now married, has a daughter, and occasionally visits us at home.
