I have never been to prision and frankly never expected to go there. But recently that changed...
The other day Edulia, Alfred and I went to visit two of the three young men who broke into the Klassen home about a year ago. Throughout my stay here in Paraguay I have seen a story of forgiveness and hope unravell from that unforgetable event. This visit to prision was yet another page in their tale.
When we arrived at the prison the three of us split into the lines for men and women at the front entrance. As Edulia and I joined the women line we noted that all the ladies among us were wearing skirts. Here to discover it is manditory for women to wear a skirt in order to enter. Lucky for us there was a skirt renting shop right next door. :) And of course that is exactly where we were headed next. Unaware of the fact that the skirts were not to keep, I picked out a cute looking knee lenth skirt. I was quite a site with my floral green skirt, sneakers, high green striped socks and burgandy work shirt.
Ready for anything, we made our way through the line, got patted down for drugs, and went to find the young men. As we entered the large meeting room I felt like I was in some sort of thug movie. Tons of men were crowded around, some at the gate, others on the balcony and others at the food bar. There was a steady beat of slow Paraguayan music and smoke from the cigaretts wafted around creating a shady atmosphere. As we made our way through I instantly regreted wearing a skirt that showed any part of my leg.
Upstairs we located the young man who stabbed my host dad. We had come with a cake for his birthday which was that week. It was an awesome moment of be sitting around that table with the two of them together. What a powerful display of forgiveness it was. The young man did not have much to say so our visit did not last too long. But sometimes it is not necessarly important what words are exchanged but rather the moment which was shared.
