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FOUNDER of Praise and Worship Centre Dr Trust Sinjoki has challenged society to accept inmates, who would have completed their jail sentences to counter re-offending.
Dr Sinjoki made these remarks as he appealed with the authorities to avail land for him to build a five-in-one restoration centre anywhere in the city of Bulawayo to service all prisons that fall under the province.
In an interview, Dr Sinjoki told B-Metro that from his 10-year experience in working with inmates and ex-convicts, he discovered that a lot of the people found themselves re-offending as the community was not ready to accept them after completing their sentences.
“We always complain that rehabilitation programmes being offered in prisons were not good enough to transform these inmates but from my own analysis I discovered the community was to blame.
“The moment the ex-convict mentions the fact that he or she was in prison the community develops this funny attitude and that person loses all the opportunities that he was supposed to enjoy,” he said.
Dr Sinjoki said this marginalisation was making the life of an ex-convict very difficult and he or she was deprived of almost all the rights they are entitled to while living in a free society.
“I remember in 2013 when I introduced Prison to Praise at Khami complex, the idea was to groom these inmates with the intention to continue working with these guys even after completing their jail terms.
“Since that time until now we have managed to groom pastors, deacons and elders while in prison and most of them are working under our church in different parts of the country and even beyond.
“As we speak we have got eight pastors who are leading some of our branches and they are well taken care of by the congregants,” he said.
The man of the cloth said with the challenges being experienced by the ex-convicts he got an offer from a friend based in the United States of America, who promised to support the building of a five-in-one restoration centre to cater for all the ex-convicts, who face denial from relatives and friends.
“I am actually appealing to the city fathers to chip in and support the noble idea by availing a piece of land for our fellow brothers and sisters to have a decent place to stay soon after completing their sentences.
“This idea would reduce the levels of crime in our country that would in return boost investor confidence as no one would invest his or her money in a city with the highest crime rate,” he said.
Dr Sinjoki said the five in one restoration facility would have facilities that include skills training, half way home, recreational centre, tea coffee bar and an auditorium.
The man of the cloth said this facility would assist these people to smoothly re-integrate back to society without facing the harsh conditions they go through in the community.
“It is my wish to see these people start a decent life like what we experience with the pastors that we have in some of our churches. The whole idea when we started the church programme was to re-integrate them through the church and yes challenges were there.
“But generally I would like to believe this programme was a success that saw a lot of our pastors getting into the community getting married and as we speak all of these eight guys are married and they have got families,” he said.
Dr Sinjoki said it was his wish to take the same concept and apply it to the five in one restoration hub that would cover Bulawayo province and even beyond since it would be the first of its kind in Zimbabwe.
The man of the cloth urged members of the community not to be judgmental as everyone was a sinner and everyone has been given another chance several times without being reminded of their past.
“We are all human beings and we all sin so it is totally unfair for the next person who happens to be an ex-convict or an inmate still serving his or her sentence.
“I would like to believe the sentences they would have served while in prison is enough punishment so let’s not add some more punishment by segregating them once they are out of prison.
“This challenge I would like to believe is meant for everyone in the community and even to the government itself as it’s the one which crafted the correctional aspect when dealing with inmates.
“So, let’s put that into practice so that we build our nation going forward and not going backwards like, what is happening to our fellow brothers and sisters, who cannot be employed at any company because of their criminal record that happened in the past,” he said.
Dr Sinjoki went further and challenged ex-convicts to stand up and work for themselves as most of them still believe the community should provide for them like what used to happen while they were in prison.
“I have noted that most ex-convicts still believe the community is there to provide for them like what used to happen when they were in prison. But in actual sense, these guys should stand up and start working for themselves to avoid being sidelined in the community,” he ended.
DID YOU KNOW????
We don’t have a halfway home for ex-convicts in Zimbabwe?
mbulelo smpofu
shloboe boe
