A news release by the Crossroad Bible Institute (CBI) said this will be CBI's eighth international Distribution Center and the first on the continent of Africa.
"I am so excited that African Christians will be equipped to minister to and serve the prisoners in Africa," says president of CBI, Dr. David Schuringa in the 7 July statement.
As one of the world's poorest countries, CBI statement says Ghana's prisons lack appropriate sanitation, food production areas and medical care. In addition, the prisons hold almost double the number of people they were built to hold with many prisoners waiting years before a trial. The needs of those within the prisons are enormous.
Reverend David Kwadwo Ofosuhene, a native of Ghana, the director of the new center understands the difficulties of this prison system. He says, however, "God has called me to this particular ministry."
Ofosuhene has gained permission from the government for opening of CBI Ghana and has already recruited and trained 23 volunteer instructors to distribute and correct CBI's Bible study lessons. These instructors will hand deliver the lessons and their letters of encouragement to 12 different prisons, as well as provide those behind bars with practical supplies such as medicine, soap and food.
These instructors, all native Ghanaians, will offer the prisoners comfort inside the decaying prisons and a chance to find new direction. Ofosuhene believes that these prisoners need to change from the inside out; he prays that once they leave the prisons, they will not return.
As a part of CBI's international program, CBI headquarters says it will assure the high quality of the program by supplying the lessons and manuals as well as keeping records of the enrolled students and overseeing instructor activity.
Crossroad Bible Institute has been working since 1984 to provide prisoners in North America with faith-based reentry education, to equip the church to make disciples, to guide the students into reentry agencies upon their release and to educate the church on criminal and restorative justice issues.
CBI's useful materials are provided at no cost to prisoners and their families; enrollment forms and sample lessons can be found at www.crossroadbibleinstitute.org