Some colleagues were having quite a success performing in prisons around the Kiev area, and they thought we could try the same. - Why not?

We located the local administration for the prisons in our Oblast, and managed to make an appointment with the top guy. We met Vladimir, as was his name, sitting behind his desk at the inner office. He was wearing an impressive uniform.

We explained to him that we were offering "free of charge" to put on musical performances for the prisoners in his area. After we finished our presentation, he had a look of scorn on his face and didn’t waste much time dismissing us with a wave of his hand. “There is no way I am going to let you enter my prisons!” - That was the end of that - a closed door!

When we told our friends in Kiev about it they said they could try when they’d come for a visit, “Yeah, fat chance!” I thought.

A while later they did come by for a visit and, as promised, they paid Vladimir a visit. They received pretty much the same reception as we had experienced. In fact, by now the Nachalnik, as the boss is called, was beginning to get annoyed with this pestering, "Do you people not know how to take 'no' for an answer?"

"I'll tell you what," he said, "I’m going to call my boss in Kiev so you can hear for yourself that what you are asking is out of the question!" You can imagine how Vladimir’s face changed when his boss ordered him to let us perform in his prisons.

“I’m gonna give him a stiff talking to" the Kiev boss said to our colleagues, "and by the way, shall I order him to give you some chocolate?” :-)

Not surprisingly after that talk with the higher up, Vladimir had a 180 degree change of heart and became most accommodating. As a matter of fact, once we got to know each other better he turned out to be quite a nice guy. He pretty much gave us access to any prison in his Oblast.

I lost count of how many different prisons we visited together with the Kiev team to put on programs for the inmates – women’s prisons, prisons for young offenders, also some for hardened criminals (who were as meek as lambs during our visits). In some of the prisons, inmates afterwards started to have bible reading and forming prayer groups.

Here is one prisoner we met on the day of his release. He went back to his village and started a church, making himself the pastor. He sent us pictures showing how he was baptizing his converts in the river.

Chapter 16 ~ Contrasts and Challenges   ( TOC )