Seven receive certificates for outreach work in Central

By ZARA KANU LEBO
SEVEN former detainees obtained certificates for outreach work under the Reformed Prisoners for Christ Foundation in Gaire village, Central.
The programme, which comes under the Discipleship Bible School, was conducted over seven months from Sept 23 at the Gaire village community church.
Correctional Service were invited to witness the event after the seven men, once detainees, went through transformation through an in-house rehabilitation process.
Assistant commissioner and director for the New Guinea Islands Philip Pranis, said: “The most important phase is not when they are serving time but after they come out and live in the community.
“If a detainee is given 10 years to serve, then five years before they are released, he or she is eligible for parole and normally CS officers do the detainee’s assessment report.”
“The officers put them out to work under programmes and base their assessment (on it). They do the detainee’s assessment and further a pre-sentence report and so these are all important factors to determine the release of a detainee.
“But the real phase today is not the CS internal work but after the detainee is back in the community as a free person.
“This is the phase where we see real development in the former detainees and we know that our rehabilitation work was worthwhile when they were serving their time.
“From a religious point of view, if we look at the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, it was written by people in prison, so it’s not a mistake for you to take this challenge to go preach the gospel because you went to the place where the Bible originated.
“We can have anything and everything to talk about rehabilitation in prison but if we don’t put God first in what we do, we will be nothing and today you are testament to what we call rehabilitation.”
The seven men were presented attainment certificates and will be part of the Discipleship Bible Ministry and will share the gospel, be part of church activities and partake in teaching of religious education programmes in the village or in their respective communities.
Those who received certificates: Caleb Noho, 55, of Barakau village, David Leva, 62, of Gaire, David Tauvali, 54, of Gaire, James Haro, 50, of Gulf, Nick Iana, 68, of Gaire, Mauta Raga, 59,of Gaire.
The participants were from different denominations such as United Church, Seventh-day Adventist, Salvation Army and Christian Revivial Church.
In the 1980s, all were convicted of either theft or murder and other violent crimes and were jailed between eight and 12 years. They were released in the early 1990s through parole.
Speaking on behalf of the participants, Iana said: “We once did criminal activities, but we didn’t realise that we hurt a lot of people who loved us.
“We served our time in jail and that was when we realised that the life we were living was wrong.
“We thank our families and wives for standing by us all these years.
“CS has also showed an interest in making sure that we became better citizens in the community.
“It was while in prison, we were attending a crusade that we gave our lives to God and we thank God that through this programme, we have purpose in the community again.”
Pastor Gwaibo Badira said in his encouragement that people who were released from prison should find their way in the community and show that they are capable of being better citizens and be a testament for the younger generation.