Kelly Buckley, Area Coordinator for Prison Fellowship of NZ (Waikato), (pictured above) shares her account of delivering ‘Sycamore Tree’, a Restorative Justice model in Waikeria – and of being dubbed a ‘nut-bar’!
Having been part of the team who volunteer in Waikeria Prison for nearly 10 years, and now in a full time volunteering role, I am well used to people who think I’m a ‘nut-bar’! When they find out that I’m a Registered Nurse who has postponed that career to work with Prison Fellowship (PFNZ) full time, not to mention that I survive on ‘charity’, you can imagine the response. And then throwing in the whole God thing…well, many just walk away.
PFNZ run a model of Restorative Justice in prisons called ‘Sycamore Tree’. In the last financial year, 26 programmes have been delivered in 11 prisons nationwide.
Sycamore Tree is a Biblically based programme using the story of Zaccheus’ encounter with Jesus. It brings together six serving prisoners and six community participants who have been the victims of crime in eight two-hour sessions. We explore what crime is from a legal aspect and what God says about it. We talk about its effect on victims and the families of offenders. We discuss the power of forgiveness, apologies, repentance, restitution and, finally, restoration.
During the programme, relationships and trust build, sometimes between the most unlikely of characters. Picture a lady of 80 plus paired up with a young Samoan man who has lost the sight of one eye in a fight. He is six foot something and three times as wide as her! He saw this lady as the grandmother he never had and she saw him as a big teddy bear. On the evening of our last session, our graduation, this lady was taken ill and went into hospital. Less than 24 hours later, she passed away. We held a memorial service inside with the men, as this was very important to them. Tears flowed and the memories we shared from just those 16 hours we had shared together were so special. Amazing things happen on this programme.
These men have done some terrible things, but they are not terrible people. They are hurt and need to be loved as much as anyone. If God chooses me as the messenger to tell them that, it is my pleasure to do so. It’s surprising how much reward and enjoyment I get out of being an unemployed, living-on-charity nut-bar!
A civilisation flourishes when people plant trees under which they will never sit – Greek Proverb
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