Wyndham-born woman Margaret Currie is back in Gore taking a break from life in Mongolia where she works in prisons for a humanitarian aid organisation called Prison Fellowship Mongolia. Photo by Tuangane Matangi.
For 17 years, this petite Eastern Southland woman has taken on the role of sitting and talking with prisoners on death row, serving life sentences, awaiting sentence, or serving time for petty crimes.
‘‘Three years after teaching English there [in Mongolia], one of my students needed help to visit her brother in prison. That's where I first met the prisoners and thought I could make a difference,'' Mrs Currie said.
Since then, Mrs Currie has been instrumental in the formation of a Christian humanitarian aid organisation called Prison Fellowship Mongolia.
Mrs Currie was ‘‘mother'' to about 8000 prisoners.
‘‘Only about 300 of these are women. About 150 are youth aged from 15 to 18. All the other prisoners are men prisoners,'' she said.
There were 23 prisons in Mongolia housing inmates who had been sentenced and about 20 detention centres where people were waiting to be sentenced for their crimes, Mrs Currie said.
Harsh sentences, comprising 20 or 30 years in prison, were handed down to criminals who had stolen a cow. This was able to happen because rich and wealthy people could influence authorities, she said.
‘‘My role has been to visit the prisons and try to assess the needs of the prisoners and the deficits in their environment for human rights, as well as make it habitable and loveable,'' Mrs Currie said.
Mongolian authorities had ‘‘opened their doors'' and welcomed the work and programmes of the fellowship.
‘‘We are welcome to visit any prison and carry out any programme,'' Mrs Currie said. ‘‘When a man goes to prison, keeping contact with his family is pretty much impossible. The family is ostracised by the community and the children suffer,'' she said.
The general occurrence, after a man had been put in prison, was for his wife to take off and leave the children with the father's mother or father.
Returning to Eastern Southland for a break was a breath of fresh air for Mrs Currie.
‘‘I hope that the people in Eastern Southland realise that they are living in paradise. There must be 56 shades of green in Gore,'' Mrs Currie said.
