Getting our van into the area where we had to unload our equipment was tough. We hit the roof backing up and damaged our back doors a little, but not too bad. It took work to get through to these men, they were more harden criminals and had been in for a long time. It is amazing how laughter is like medicine and sometimes, if you make someone laugh, you win their heart and their trust to talk about deeper things. When I did my Irish step dance here and shared my story of how I recovered from being in a wheel chair, the men were really moved and joined in a synchronized clap. One young man also had a rod and 8 screws in his leg like I do.
By the time we were done, they were all gathered around asking for us to write messages to them and they kept saying how they just could not believe someone came to them. One man said in the 12 years he had been here, not one time did one person of any foundation or organization come to see them. My sister contacted a Bible society here and was able to get a lot of Bibles and Gospels of John donated to us. It was a dream come true seeing these men get up and take a Bible from the box and have enough to give them all. Sometimes my favorite time is after we are done performing and we just spend time with the prisoners talking, trading stories and teaching them magic tricks or games.
The staff and guards were so grateful to us and gave us a basket of snacks and chocolates to thank us. It meant a lot to us.
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