As we say in our Social Entrepreneurship, Technology and Business Institute (SETBI), we are better than yesterday, but we are not done yet! Happy New Year! As we enter 2025, I pray you are experiencing abounding peace and joy. Each new year brings a sense of new possibilities and fresh starts, and I look forward to seeing what God has in store for MCI/SETBI and those we serve. I am honored to be a part of MCI and also this College Education Behind Bars pivotal movement. Our history with the component of correctional education spans nearly nine years but with MCI is 17 years, incredible years defined by God’s unfailing love for every individual touched by incarceration and others. We celebrate all that God has done and will continue to do. We are witnessing an undeniable cultural shift in prisons and jails across the Philippines, and we are continuing to expand according to what the Lord has for us; we are building rapport with corrections leaders, universities, community leaders, legislators, and lay figures, reframing the national conversation on corrections and advocating for a justice system that reflects each individual’s God given dignity. The Lord continues to transform the hearts and minds of men and women in programs like those implemented by SETBI/MCI. In fact, we now have intensive SETBI programs because at least 23 universities nation-wide have benchmarked College Education Behind Bars in their schools. The numbers are encouraging, but they are not nearly as powerful as the personal stories behind those numbers. Hearing the amazing firsthand testimonies of people in these programs never get old.
This year end I am filled with gratitude, so I want to begin with great gratitude to all our donors, board members, volunteers, and students and parents. This new year holds numerous opportunities to continue being part of what God is doing, and it takes all of us volunteers, faith based groups, donors, advocates, universities, government officials, and more to make a lasting difference. As this academic year comes to an end, I have reflected on our success and challenges and keep coming back to one thought— how grateful we are. I am grateful we carry on with nurturing our MCI scholars living in the Light House and working at the Turkish Coffee House. We have continued our weekly forums and our fellowships at the Light House and at the house of one of our student’s family, led by our former MCI student and now law student Pearl Joy. We are grateful to Olga and Ross McClain, veterans from RBC’s Celebrate Recovery program, who came and taught CR classes in the prison at large. This is one way the faith based group can help the wounded move beyond their hurts, habits, and hang-ups to experience the forgiveness of Lord. I am grateful to the gifted team from Texas with Jeremy Coddington, the wise team leader and excellent facilitator of discussions at the retreat; Gloria Amaya, who gave a seminar for our students in the new prison program; Ana and Ezra, who added life, enthusiasm, and zeal for the Lord and who could identify with the students’ generation; Tommy and Emily Poulter, faithful MCI family members who shared experiences, spiritual insights, and humor at every turn; Brad Byers, who brought his vigor for life, practicableness, and never-met-a-stranger personality; and my mom who has a longstanding love for the work and the students; as well as Grant Boshart, who has cultural savvy, adaptability, love of the Lord, and always a good word for the scholars. Grant was the one who suggested that we should have the MCi retreat at the beach rather than in the mountains, and thank you for that great suggestion, Grant, because the students really loved the venue. I am grateful to Dr. Gloria Amaya for taking care of my mom and staying with her especially during the flights all the way to Texas.
I am grateful for another MCI Cultural and Family Night; while the team was in Davao, we had a cultural night where families traveled from up to eight hours to attend. The students prepared traditional foods and danced their tribe’s dances. Ezra and Grant did the honors of introducing, respectively, a Mexican dance and a country and western dance involving the scholars and team members. Gloria prepared Mexican fajitas for the students and the team on another night, and we all celebrated Sir Jeremy and Ma’m Kay’s birthdays with cake and flowers. Jeremy, who had left his difficult responsibilities at home with Delaine, provided constant guidance and leadership by his calm and godly wisdom.
I am grateful for the opening of the College Education Behind Bars Campus at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm. On July 15, the greatly anticipated opening of the College Education Behind Bars at the Davao Prison was held in conjunction with the graduation of our first 12 students, who have been taking classes taught by faculty from Davao Del Norte State College under a tin awning. Subsequently, the students moved from their congested living quarters with all the prisoners to our new dormitory on the upper floor of our CEBB facility.
I am grateful for a successful 3rd International Conference on Persons Deprived of Liberty’s Transformative Education for Successful Re-entry. The 3rd International Conference was organized by SETBI and the University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP). The quiet anticipation in the air in the building that housed that University of Southeastern Philippines’ audio visual room proved warranted as the participants from various universities from all over the country and government officials heard papers from attendees and, more moving, stories of life transformation from the program’s graduates.
I am very grateful for our keynote speaker, Dr. Mneesha Gellman, founder and Director of the Emerson Prison Initiative, which, similar to SETBI, offers college education to persons deprived of liberty (PDL) in Massachusetts correctional institutions. This was followed by a handful of speakers, one of whom was a former PDL, Ms. Esnaira Sanday, who spoke about her experiences in jail and her subsequent enrollment in our College Education Behind Bars program. Her story pulled at the heartstrings of the captive audience and showed that anyone could successfully return to society with confidence when given a second chance at higher education. Via a Zoom call was Attorney Sean Addie, the Director of the Correctional Education Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education at the US Department of Education. He talked about what the United States government is doing to provide education to people deprived of liberty, including their ability to receive a Pell Grant that helps pay for their education. He also talked about the benefits of education in its ability to reduce recidivism, or the tendency of a person to reoffend the law after being released. I am grateful to Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Dr. J. Prospero “Popoy” De Vera III. He spoke about what we could do to move forward with what we were doing for the people deprived of liberty. The SETBI’s main goal for initiating the conference is to share information about the importance of building a robust, supportive community essential to incarcerated people across the Philippines, so we are pleased about the growing group of practitioners who gathered this third time. All in all, the conference was a resounding success. Not only did the participants exchange their knowledge with one another, but they were also inspired to start their own college behind bars programs. Truly, this was what SETBI envisioned when they initiated the conference, bringing a group of like-minded individuals to create a community of people who were interested in improving the lives of PDL and giving them a brighter tomorrow.
I am very grateful for MCI’s successful 13th distribution of eye glasses in various communities including to the prisoners in DaPeCol, thus recognizing the profound impact of clear vision on individuals’ lives. Through Minority Care International’s Restoring Vision annual eye care projects, we distributed more than 190 reading eyeglasses to Lina Barangay in South Cotabato, a Muslim stronghold. We had two eye doctors from another local hospital join us as volunteers to evaluate, to do free eye check-ups, and to label the lenses of all the eye glasses before testing the recipients and dispensing the glasses. At the same time our nursing students conducted free blood pressure screening for the elderly. They enjoyed serving the community’s needs, an important lesson MCI teaches. According to one of the eye glasses recipients, he appreciated MCI’s community outreach because it is very expensive to have an eye check-up and to get eye glasses with the consequence that most of the disadvantaged do not have glasses and have problems that go untreated. Through this service our MCI scholars are learning that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
I am grateful for MCI Student Association‘s (MCISA) first basketball game with College Education Behind Bars DaPeCol Campus students. A part of their Steps to Recovery Program (CR) includes the principle of having the students become physically well, in addition to being mentally sound, emotionally balanced, socially adjusted, and spiritually alive. The other players taking part in the event were Minority Care International Student Association members.
I am grateful to Jerwin Capuras, a stellar MCI former student, for coming to Texas to share his testimony at the MCI fund raising banquet and to show that God does not waste anything. Jerwin is a true testimony of what MCI is doing in the Philippines. Pray for him as he offers himself to the Lord through the work of Doctors Without Borders by living and working in the Ukraine and sometimes traveling to Poland.
I am grateful for the three Christmas parties held for the students in MCI, in DaPeCol and in Davao City Jail. We gave gifts, sang Christmas songs, and had students share. For more than 17 years in the Philippines, my greatest professional honor is unquestionably serving the Filipino people. The Philippines is an extremely special place, and I am grateful to be here serving the marginalized community there.
