Local Churches in Torit in Eastern Equatoria State on Monday donated food and non-food items to inmates at the Torit Central Prison.
The churches which collected donations were Grace Gospel Church, Christ’s Manifestation Ministries, Rebuilding Ministries international, Global Apostolic revival Church and Christian brotherhood Church. The items given included rice, cooking oil, washing soap, salt, maize flour, and sugar.
Torit Central Prison houses over 250 inmates which the authorities say amounts to overcrowding and that they have been grappling with shortages of food and non-food items.
Speaking to the media Monday after delivering the donations, the team leader of the church representatives, Bishop Joshua Lokurudek, of Grace Gospel Church, said the contribution is to show love and support to inmates.
“We came to Torit Central Prison to give some small donations and you know the crises of today so we have to join hands together with the government and to give donations to the prison as a Church,” he said. “We are a group of churches and we felt as pastors, and this is one of the missions God has commanded us to do, is to visit the prison and to show our love. So, I encourage all the believers, all the Christians to contribute what they can to support Torit Central Prison with food items.”
He added: “We thank God that today we contribute these small food items as a church and we are also committed to contributing monthly to the inmates in this prison.”
Major General Marko Ranga, the director for Torit Central Prison received the donation and applauded the local churches for their kind support. He said the prison facility has been facing food shortages for the last two months.
“Thank you very much for this donation. I thank especially the pastor of Grace Gospel Church for his donation. This is not the first time he has been donating to us,” he said. “I want to encourage other Churches to behave like this because we know the situation of our government. They do not have money. I am encouraging the people of Torit, especially the Churches, to contribute to these vulnerable people.”
“These are our people and later on when they are released, they will return to the community and behave well, but if we do not look after them, they will die of hunger in prison,” he added.
Opoka Vincent Okuma, an inmate at the prison, appreciated the donation and said it will improve their situation.
“We give a lot of thanks to our pastors who came and supported us. We have suffered in the prison with no food, no soap, and everything is not there,” he said. “Sometimes we sleep hungry and sometimes they only bring boiled greens which we drink. May God bless the pastors and the churches so that they can continue helping. We also ask forgiveness for our crimes.”