Help loved ones adjust to life after prison
TODAY’S the day your loved one is coming home! You and your family are excited. Now everything can go back to normal, right?
The truth is, your loved one is going to have to adjust to life on the outside. They will most likely have to deal with culture shock, depression, and anger. In addition, they will also have challenges with the social stigma and the collateral consequences that come with a criminal record.
When prisoners are released at the end of their sentence, starting a new life outside prison gates can be incredibly challenging. Many ex‐offenders will need help inding a safe place to live and a way to make a living. Just as importantly, they will need supportive relationships and encouragement to help them reintegrate (rejoin society) and lead lives free from crime.
An essential part of reintegration is being able to earn an income. Prison Fellowship Swaziland (PFS) has been working towards making this process a seamless one for some ex- inmates.
DELEGATION
In the Matsetsa area a three member delegation team from PFS Executive Director Mandla Mtetwa, Assistant Director Nhlanhla Dlamini and Volunteer Nomphumelelo donated clothes and seed capital materials for ex-Inmate Senzangakhona Tsabedze who is on crutches. The team donated clothes and money to buy hair clippers for Tsabedze to start him off on his aspiration to open a barber shop for livelihood and offered moral support through motivational words from scriptures. A second pair of hair clippers were donated by Executive Director Mandla Mtetwa to substantiate Tsabedze’s business aspiration as a back-up to the one initially donated.
He was truly grateful and pledged to be a light through living an exemplary life in his community.
The team has also assisted physically impaired ex-inmate Vusi Magagula from Piggs Peak, who is blind and lives with his wife in a house that was built ive years ago and was donated by His Majesty’s Correctional Service (Including a water tank) but unfortunately they lack food due to Magagula’s impairment. But God being good the PFS team which consisted of Mtetwa and Dlamini said that a donation was made to the couple and it was touching to see the brother shed tears of joy and pleading with PFS members not to abandon them but to periodically check on them with assistance. The team intends to mobilise resources and make it a habit to periodically assist the family and plans to ind ways on how they can assist them start a small income generation project.