By Bedah Mengo
NAIROBI, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) –The slender man moves a handsaw back and forth as the tool cuts into a piece of wood separating it into two.
He then starts to plane the two pieces of wood. George Kamotho thereafter makes beautiful flowery patterns on the wood, which he intends to use on sofa sets that he is constructing.
As he does this, a young man in his mid-twenties looks at him keenly, intermittently asking questions for clarification. “You must be able to satisfy your clients. Customers are very sensitive, if you serve them well, they would return,” Kamotho tells the young man.
The two are former prisoners trying to rebuild their lives after staying in prison for several years.
The young man is on a mentorship program at Kamotho’s workshop in Nairobi, having been released from jail few months ago.
In the program, former prisoners who are engaging in income generating activities act as role models and mentor newly released prisoners.
They train them different skills that can help them earn a living and avoid reverting to crime. “I came here two months ago after serving a six-year sentence in jail. I am learning carpentry and upholstery,” Simon Muchai tells Xinhua.
Kamotho, a former prisoner who spent over 20 years in jail tells Xinhua they started the program after realizing that many former inmates were reverting to crime soon after leaving jail. “We are a group of 30 former prisoners many of us who have been in jail several times. We united and formed the initiative to assist ex-inmates reintegrate in the society and avoid reverting to crime,” he says.
In Kenya, like in many other African countries, there is no program to assist ex-offenders rebuild their lives after jail.
Many of them are stigmatized by the society and rejected by their families. Thus, they turn back to crime to earn a living.
Kamotho says that besides assisting former inmates, their aim is to act as role models to them. “When a person comes out of jail and sees that former prisoners are engaging in income generating activities, they get hope that they too can make it without engaging in crime,” he says.
The group liaises with prison authorities through a foundation that works with former offenders to get the interns. “The institution helps us identify prisoners who are about to leave jail. It then links them up with us so that when they come out, they get attached to us,” he says.
Before they take a newly released ex-prisoner, Kamotho says the group first assesses his areas of interests. “Most of us run metal and wood workshops, having learned the skills in prisons. We interview the person to know whether they are interested in any of the two,” he tells Xinhua.
“Thereafter, as a group, we assign the individual to one of us who would then be responsible in mentoring the ex-offender.” “Many of the inmates already have practical skills for instance, in carpentry that they learn in jail. Ours is to help them know how to run workshops and deal with clients,” Kamotho says.
More importantly however, he says the attachment helps the ex- inmate to be accepted by the society. “Sometimes the society can be very unforgiving. People will not stop perceiving you as a criminal. When this happens, you cannot stand on your own. The internship therefore gives one a platform to interact with people and get acceptance,” Kamotho observes.
During the program, which takes a maximum of six months, Kamotho says they allow the interns to make some money and raise capital that they can use to start their businesses. “If an intern assists me in making for instance, a sofa set, I give him some money. This enables him to take care of his need and buy tools that he can use to start a workshop,” he says.
Since they started the program over a year ago, Kamotho says he has successfully nurtured three ex-inmates. “I have worked with five ex-inmates. Two of them have their own workshops while one switched to farming,” he tells Xinhua.
However, he says it is not an easy task especially for some ex- offenders who are used to making easy money. “Two of those I tried to mentor reverted to crime. They did not have patience to work and earn from their sweat,” he says.
Muchai says he has been able to learn a lot during the time he has been with Kamotho. “I am hopeful that when the six-month’s period elapses, I would have raised good money which I will use to start a workshop,” he says.
He says the mentorship program has helped him reintegrate in the society. “I would have had a difficult time starting a new life after jail. It is not easy for the society to believe that one has reformed. But because those who are helping us are also former prisoners, they understand our plight better,” says Muchai who was jailed for robbery with violence.
Source: English.news.cn
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