September 2010 STP Going Strong in Western AustraliaOn 9 August, PF Australia (Western Australia) celebrated its 34th Sycamore Tree Project®. The course, the fifth to be run in Casuarina prison, included twelve prisoner and seven victim participants. They each reported meeting their personal goals for participating in the programme. Participant comments included:
“Life changing experience; [I was] able to release feelings and forgive, to move on with my life in a productive way.”
“I saw through the victims my own family members’ love, sadness, joy, forbearance, forgiveness. – Nice to be human.”
After the session five on forgiveness, one victim struggling with the ongoing effects of childhood sexual abuse reported, “ …strongly believe I have made a breakthrough and if only you knew how I felt when it was happening. ...I feel free. … I’m actually enjoying my existence.”
The next course in Casuarina is scheduled for October – December 2010. Prison Fellowship in other Australian states are working toward implementation with PF in Queensland planning to run a pilot in October 2010.
PF South Africa Engaging Churches through STPFrom 12 to 15 July, Douw Grobler, PF South Africa executive director, conducted Sycamore Tree Project®training for 28 second year students at the Methodist seminary in Pietermaritzburg. The four day event included sessions on the impact of crime on society, restorative justice, the role of the church, each of the Sycamore Tree Project®sessions, and a prison visit.
According to Douw, “the STP material is meant to flavour these individuals’ theology as emerging ministers; thereby flavouring the mission and outreach of the future church to be more restorative, forgiving, and healing in nature.”
A second training for lay leaders, theology students and others from the Methodist church took place on 28th and 29th of July. Eleven students attended the training that focused on STP facilitation. The training represents a continuing relationship between PF South Africa and the Methodist Church in South Africa and will become an annual event.
The Catholic Seminary in Pretoria requested a similar event for its students. PF South Africa is currently negotiating delivery of the training.
The STP ForumThe STP forum provides an opportunity for those working with the Sycamore Tree Project®to share ideas, innovations, and concerns. Questions are posted online allowing readers to comment. Recent questions include:
Working with Victim Support Groups: “I recently received an update on the STP implementation from PF Portugal. A Portuguese victim support group is interested in the programme but is looking for more information on the programme. One of the questions is about the participation of victim support programmes in other countries.” When offenders are also victims?: “ In restorative justice, we will talk about the various mechanisms that offenders use to minimise the harm they have done. One of these is to assume a "victim mentality." However, there are times when offenders have real experiences of victimisation. I recently read an email from an STP facilitator in Latin America talking about how many of the participants in the course she is currently facilitating were having a hard time understanding how their actions caused harm.”Discussing forgiveness: “Recently, Michael Cockram from Western Australia shared an email communication he had sent to STP participants as they prepared for the session on forgiveness. In the email he says, "Most of the time we seem to be working out what forgiveness is not..." Forgiveness can be a difficult subject as there is a lot of confusion about what it is. So, how do you frame the discussion on forgiveness? What lessons have you learned through facilitating STP?”There are two ways to be notified when a new question is posted to the STP Forum:
Send an email to lparker@pfi.orgto request email notification of new Forum questions.Sign-up for an RSS feed at http://www.pfi.org/cjr/stp/stp-forum/stp-forum/RSSIt’s also possible to sign-up for an RSS feed of comments in response to questions on the STP Forum at http://www.pfi.org/cjr/stp/stp-forum/comments-made-to-the-stp-forum/RSS.Questions can be posted on the STP Forum by sending the request to Lynette Parker (lparker@pfi.org).
Pray for our brothers and sisters working with the Sycamore Tree Project®in South Africa and Australia. Sycamore Tree Network is brought to you by Prison Fellowship International.
To submit an article to Sycamore Tree Network or request help with the Sycamore Tree Project®, contact Lynette Parker at: lparker@pfi.org
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Compiled and edited by Lynette Parker and Dan Van Ness
© 2010 by Prison Fellowship InternationalAll rights reservedReprints permitted with acknowledgement
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