Salesians offer social and pastoral support

(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries opened a multifunctional sports facility in Monrovia Central Prison in Liberia to provide support to the prisoners. The facility was built thanks to Don Bosco Mondo in Bonn, Germany, and has been dedicated to Pope Francis. Don Bosco Mondo received support from financier Peter Friemel. For years, he got on his bicycle and collected money from sponsors and donors on his tours. The 85-year-old has already collected €200,000.

Archbishop Walter Erbi, the Nuncio for Liberia, Sierra Leone and Gambia, opened and blessed the new sports facility. This was followed by the first soccer, basketball and volleyball games. After the awards ceremony, local music bands played and inmates celebrated the new facility.

The Monrovia Central Prison is constantly overcrowded due to the slow and sluggish judiciary. While the prison was built for 325 inmates, today there are over 1,500 prisoners crammed into the narrow cells. Overcrowding in the prison leads to a lack of food, water, hygienic standards and psycho-social support. These challenges often result in increased aggression and frustration among prisoners, as well as physical and mental illnesses and injuries. There were no opportunities previously for sports in the narrow area. The new arena is primarily intended to promote sport and health.

Salesians have been offering social and pastoral support in the prison since they arrived in Liberia in 1979. A Salesian explained, “Today, we work in the prison every day from morning to evening. The malnourished receive a warm and nutritious meal, the sick receive medical assistance, children and young prisoners receive psycho-social care in a specially built living area, and those wrongly held prisoner receive free legal assistance from lawyers. What is particularly important, however, is the pastoral offering, which is strongly geared to the situation and needs of the prisoners.”

An estimated 64% of Liberians live below the poverty line and 1.3 million live in extreme poverty, out of a population of 4.6 million, according to the World Food Programme. Food security is also affecting 41% of the population and making chronic malnutrition high.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS) 

ANS – Liberia – Opening and blessing of the “Pope Francis Arena” in the Central Prison of Liberia

Salesian Missions – Liberia

World Bank – Liberia