Spartans in Russia 11

September 7th, 2010: Krasnodar, Russia

Well today was one of the stuff of legend. The day started early with a 6am wake up call followed by a 2.5 hour bus ride to a prison. Nothing wakes you up in the morning like going to prison. The plan was to put on a clinic or skills demonstration for the inmates and then have a match against the guards. That sounded like a lot of fun and fairly unobtrusive. As seems to be the case the plan was not what happened.

When we first arrived to the prison it took a while for us to get organized and the screening process was lengthy. The first pioneers on the team were on the inside for about 15 minutes before the whole team got through. 15 minutes doesn’t sound like a lot but when you have ten huge Russian inmates hanging out of their windows yelling at you 15 minutes, that may be your last, is an eternity.

Once the whole team was in we moved down the secure area towards what we thought was going to be a gym…nope…there was a sand/gravel court in the middle of the “grounds” with a net strung across it. We were looking at each other as if to say, “Are we really going in THERE?” Yep…we entered the common grounds with all of the prisoners and surprisingly very few guards. Nick summed it up best when I asked if he is nervous. He said, “Ya, a little…and by little I mean extremely.” So bunch of nervy athletes from Canada and at least 20 times as many curious Russians congregated on the football pitch (gravel rectangular space) and did what they all new best. The athletes began to play pepper and the inmates moved in clumps surrounding the athletes peppering them with questions…in Russian. Thankfully a few inmates were able to translate a portion of the conversation so we were able to communicate a bit. After a few minutes almost the entire prison had surrounded the volleyball court and a game with the inmates seemed inevitable.

Six very big, very strong Russian men emerged on the court in a scene right out of the Longest Yard. Six very skinny, by comparison, and very scared Canadians stood and awaited the Russians. Just before the game began the team decided that they did not want to show the inmates up by not trying but it became clear quickly that the inmates were not the best at volleyball. The Spartans laid off the gas a bit and there were some extended rallies. The mood in the “yard” was improving as there was more laughter as the heckling between the inmates and the taunts of the Canadians picked up, all in good humour…it seemed. The two teams played three sets total and after the Spartans got to 20 in the third set Victor the Russian told the boys to play the last few points hard. They obliged and almost ended three Russians’ sentences early. That may not have been a good idea but in the end it turned out great as there were a few good laughs and the inmates got a good block right at the end.

Those first few minutes when the inmates were gathering around us while we were on the pitch were the scariest moments we have ever had. Two to three hundred inmates surrounding you speaking a language you don’t understand. In a foreign country with only a few people knowing where we were. Eleven of us tried to stay together but we were easily separated from each other. Those moments were high stress and high anxiety times. As the volleyball match went on the stress level and anxiety reduced. The power of sport once again bringing people of all walks together.

After the volleyball match we moved to a courtyard area and had a short program prepared. Brad Kufske and Jordan Geransky gave their stories to the inmates and DJ gave the evangelism talk. After we had time for a question and answer period. There were some interesting questions. Have we ever been in a prison, what do we think about the prison, were we scared to come into the prison…etc. There were also some odd requests, one being could we sing a song. We obliged with the singing of O Canada. I remember right around ‘true north strong and free’ thinking this is a very strange sight. Ten Canadians singing O Canada to two hundred Russian inmates in a dungy prison in the middle of Russia. There were a lot of strange things that we expected to experience in Russia but this most assuredly was not one of them.

After the program a few of the inmate believers invited us to their chapel. Once there we had a time of prayer and sharing. A number of the inmates shared their stories of how they came to Christ and a few even shared how they came to be in the prison. One inmate’s route to prison was very interesting, or at least the telling of it. He was a gangster for an oil company, we can only imagine what he did as he didn’t specify. He came to Christ shortly after being incarcerated and said that he felt it was God that brought him to prison. An interesting comment to be sure. He went on to say that had he not come to prison he would now be dead and his daughter wouldn’t have a daddy. After coming to Christ he vowed that his daughter, who was having her 10th birthday while we were there, would never see him drunk again. His exact words were, “my daughter will never see her daddy drunk.” Powerful stuff as this huge gangster man, with tears in his eyes and Christ’s love in his heart poured it out for our team to see in a tiny makeshift chapel in a Russian country prison.

Our time in the prison was a strange one. The first hour was the scariest and most nervy hour of our lives. Then volleyball made things comfortable. Then the realization that these inmates were men just like us, broken, vulnerable, hurting and needing God. By the time we had left we had made friends and had seen that people are people everywhere, all they need is a chance to show it.

After leaving the jail we went with a group of former prisoners who run the prison ministry that set up our visit. They took us to a forest area underneath a bridge over the river. One fella built a grill on the ground from bricks and a few garbage bags of pork that had been in cut onions all night emerged from, it seemed, thin air. Watching how they grilled the pork was very interesting, but eating the pork was far more amazing. This BBQ pork was by far our best meal in Russia. As we sat beside a dirty river, eating pork cooked on the ground, under a bridge with a bunch of former inmates beside us and the memory of our new inmate friends still fresh in our minds we had peace.

We had to cut our peaceful meal short as we had to race back to the Agriculture University we played at the day before for a practice session. After we had such a good time talking with them we had decided to set up a practice together. We ran our friends through a few of our favourite drills and then we divided the teams up and scrimmaged together. The teams were half Russians and half Spartans so it was very hard for the guys to communicate. It was very interesting to watch the two teams communicate without words. Another example how sport brings people together. Though neither could understand the words the other was saying they could still get their message across and find a way to work together. It was a very enjoyable time to play together and then share some time together after.

Finally it was back to the hotel after a really long day and what is to be a short night to come. The 4am departure for the hotel will be tough but the reuniting of the team will be exciting. It has been weird being split up, but the family will all be back together again soon.

Go Spartans!!!