The Angel of Bang Kwang Prison by Susan Aldous, Nicola Pierce Read Free Book Online Page A

I could invite Jesus into my life in a very intimate manner, which would be more challenging and much more personal than sitting in the back of a church on a Sunday morning. I prayed with them in the middle of that crowded street. I asked for help with changing my life; for the first time ever I felt inspired and it had nothing to do with a joint. I didn’t see any bright lights, or hear a chorus of angels, but I felt profoundly moved. I could change my unsatisfactory life; I could do something and make a difference, a real positive difference. They introduced Jesus as this very real guy who wanted to take care of me and help me reach my potential. I was suddenly intoxicated by hope and love.

    I stopped doing drugs from that day, and I managed it, miraculously, without needing rehab. I felt such peace in my heart that I knew my addictions were more about my emotional and mental state. Some time later I did try marijuana again, but it was horrible. It gave me such a major downer and made me paranoid—I knew that I would never touch it again. I preferred to work through my pain now instead of dosing myself with medication. I had more energy and was much livelier. I’m afraid that some of my friends didn’t appreciate my transformation and I can’t say that I blame them. I just felt so detached from my previous wild existence.
    They missed the Susan who would liven up parties after skulling a bottle of hard alcohol and just didn’t know what to do with this new version of me. There didn’t seem to be any middle ground. I did continue to see them infrequently but my new outlook was like a glass barrier between us—we could see each other but just couldn’t hear one another properly.
    I informed my parents that I wanted out of school. I was 16 years old. I spent ages working on a speech in my head and had to wait until the two of them were together, and in a relaxed mood. I was prepared to fight a long drawn-out battle and to beg like a child, but it wasn’t required. My parents weren’t foolish; they could see that school wasn’t stimulating me, or sending me on the path to a fulfilling career. They listened to my impassioned plea for liberation from academia, glanced quickly at one another, and by the next morning, gave me their blessings. That very afternoon they took me down to the principal’s office and she gave me permission to leave school. There was some necessary paperwork to be filled out and I needed all my teachers to sign my release. Nearly every teacher was in class and I had to interrupt them. Invariably they asked me, in front of the students, why I wanted to leave and what I planned to do, and invariably I replied, ‘I’m going to change the world!’ I was probably one of the most well-known characters in the school thanks to my wild reputation, and I could see that my answer was impressive to these staid youngsters. I felt I walked out of school that day in a blaze of glory.
    My parents were more than a little dubious about my sudden change. I think they expected it to last as long as my vegetarian phase did. They were pleasantly surprised when I didn’t revert back to ‘angry young teenager’ mode after a couple of weeks and so were prepared to go along with my wanting to quit school.
    I joined the Christian group and received a lot of much needed counselling and training so that I could help others. I will always be grateful to the group because they gave me direction and were pretty instrumental in helping me become who I am today. It was basic community stuff. We put on shows for kids, we visited prisoners in jail who had nobody else to talk to, and wrote letters to them. We would visit the homes of disabled people to see how we could help them and their families. We also held a Saturday night party for the local teenagers and would put on some entertainment for them. It was a rough part of town so they weren’t exactly queuing up on the street outside but still we managed to attract a