Penwork Ministries

A short synopsis

As part of the outreach in prisons, we have also been led to help with medical needs and family support. Medical needs are ongoing, due to overcrowding in many cells and prison buildings. Five or six men can live in a cell built to house one (approx 3ft by 5ft) in some places, while in other countries both men's and women's prisons are buildings housing 80 to a 100 people, with just 18 inches by 2ft 6inches per person to sleep - on a good day! Sometimes people sit leaning on the walls of the building, resting until it's their turn to lie down...

Food rationing

Food is very strictly rationed and many have only one small helping of rice or beans or very watery soup a day. Often the same food item, rice for example, is given each day for years... (Imagine that if you have been held for 15 to 20 years or even longer!) This diet, so lacking in goodness, just about keeps the men and women alive, but it leaves them with no resources to help fight illnesses... T.B, malaria, HIV/AIDS, scurvy, ulcers, diabetes, strokes, fits, and much more. 'No money, no treatment' is the rule in a lot of prisons, and people die of illnesses that are treatable. P.M has been blessed to help in this area and hopes to continue doing so...

Living on the breadline...

When the bread-winner of the family is arrested, life is grim enough for him but for his wife, often parents too, and children it is almost a death sentence. Children suffer further as school fees cannot be paid, especially in those countries where 50% of the population is out of work and there is little hope of finding any! Conditions become very challenging, the best hope being that, occasionally, a little piecework can be found at 2, 4, or 5 pence an hour (where a normal rate is 7 pence). P.M. helps as many families as possible...
Could you exist on 5 pence an hour?

Can you change the world?

We follow the precepts of Matthew 25 : 35-40 where we are asked to feed the hungry, give a drink to the thirsty, help the stranger, clothe the naked and visit the sick and those in prison. Would you like to join us? It's true that one person cannot change the world but you CAN change the world for one person... one way is to write to a prisoner. This can seem quite a task nowadays when not so many people pick up a pen and write... and yet a humble letter is truly a valuable gift. Many prisoners are far away from family and friends or have been forsaken, forgotten. They are desperate for outside contact; they need encouragement, just to know someone cares...

Someone, somewhere, needs you!

At the moment we have needy prisoners on our lists in the following countries: Zambia - over 700 men and women, with numbers growing fast! ... Thailand - almost the same... Egypt - 60 plus...Nigeria - 60 plus... with smaller numbers in countries such as Barbados, Belarus, Burma, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Spain, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Trinidad, Turkey, Uganda, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

Why not join us, and make a difference to someone's life - today! Please email us or write to:

Penwork Ministries
322 Eastern Avenue East
Gidea Park
Romford, Essex
RM2 5RA

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