It has been my privilege to visit my nephew, Jason Kent on many occasions.  I am Paula Afman, one of Carol's sisters and one of Jason's aunts.  I have often been amazed at how few visitors come to see the inmates.  I was told by one of the correction officers at the prison where he is presently confined, that out of approximately 1,500 inmates, only about 150 ever get a visitor.  A few years ago Speak Up For Hope was able to arrange to have Greeting Cards and postage provided so that the inmates could send out up to six cards to friends and loved ones during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season.  Each year since, I noticed that the amount of visitors that come to see the inmates over the holidays has increased tremendously.  It makes my heart sing to think that God has used Speak Up For Hope to make such a visible impact.

As I was standing in a very long line waiting for my turn to enter the cage-like room where I would punch my identification number into a machine and a special camera would scan my hand in order for me to leave the visitation area after spending my cherished six hours with Jason, I spoke to the guard at the “cage entrance” as I would be in the next group of five to enter the “cage”.  I told him that I appreciated the way the prison staff handled the increased flow of visitors.  Then the guard told me that one of the inmates that had been there for 19 years, since he was a very young man, was expecting to have his very first visitor the next day.  Yes, I was touched but that was just the beginning.

When I went back to see Jason the next day, the six hours flew by as per usual, and once again, I found myself standing close to the end of a very long line waiting to exit, when I noticed an African American woman standing a little behind me crying very hard.  I took a few steps back to where she was standing and told her that she looked like she could use a hug.  She laid her weeping face on my shoulder and with our arms around each other I started to pray for her and her… she filled in, “brother”.  After praying, she explained how she had been separated from, but looking for her brother for many years, and that they were finally reunited that day at Hardee Correctional Institution because of a card she had received from him.  She didn’t explain how he had found her, but she went on to say that he hadn’t had another visitor in 19 years.  I interrupted and said out loud, “You’re the one”.  She looked at me with bewilderment; so I explained that a guard had mentioned a little bit about their story the day before.   As we walked out to the parking lot together, she shared with me that she and her three daughters had been homeless and living in a shelter, but that within the past year, God saw fit to provide her with a job, a home, and a car. She cried as she said, “And now He has helped me reunite with my brother”.

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." Mark 10:27 NIV