Visiting the Prisoners

Jeff has started visiting prisoners about twice a month. The prisoners are non-Egyptians who are in for a variety of offenses, most of them not what we would consider major crimes, and some have been awaiting trial for years. When he visits, he goes with a group from church and they bring food for the prisoners. I guess they have kitchen facilities - or at least a hotplate and pots. He's been going twice a month because 1)it takes most of Saturday and we want to spend time together and 2)it is quite expensive for an all-day taxi and purchasing food and hygiene items.

Some friends from home gave us some money for the prisoners. With the money, Jeff and I went shopping for the 15 new men who were scheduled to arrive. Here's what we got:

Each prisoner got what is pictured: 1/2 dozen eggs, bread, 1 kg rice, 1 bar soap, a washcloth thing, and toothpaste. Not pictured is the toothbrush. Jeff had to walk to church with everything and it was really heavy (15 kilos of rice plus everything else!). Since I didn't want to get up early with him to carry everything to church (a 15-20 minute walk), I loaded it all up in a large suitcase. It didn't all fit and he still had to carry two bags.

And the great thing is, we didn't even spend half the money! The rest of it has since been used for similar items for the female prisoners (this was for the males).

I don't go visiting with Jeff, but it was really fun to be involved in this way. Thank you to those of you who gave so generously to the prisoners!