On a sunny Monday at Bvumbwe Young Offenders Reformatory Centre in Thyolo District, 20 inmates in new work suits, helmets and boots alongside some warders got busier undergoing electrical skills for freedom training led by renowned poet Luckier Chikopa.
In that hall that in these moments is turned into a workshop, one would not at all recognise that these were inmates especially dressed in these work suits worn as part of safety measures.
For some time, these inmates using electrical engineering tools worked their way out through supervision doing electrical installation that among others, involved cabling and connections before bulbs were lit at the end.
The lighting of the bulbs at the end by almost all the groups in the hall was a testimony that they had grasped some of the basics that had been imparted to them by Chikopa and a fellow facilitator.
“We are making headway, there is so much to learn but we will get there,” one of the inmates said.
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He regrets being found at the correctional facility but wants to come out a reformed person.
“When this programme came, I did not hesitate to be part of it. As a young person, these are some of the skills that I had been missing and now I am looking forward to establish my own workshop when I serve my term,” the inmate said.
Apart from the electrical skills, the inmates had got been nourished with entrepreneurial abilities.
Chikopa known for poems such as ‘Mamuna Ndi Mbalame’ said the idea to work with inmates at Bvumbwe Young Offenders Reformatory Centre had been driven by the need to empower young people so as to bring about change.
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“There was a time I used to teach at a technical school in the rural areas and so, I wanted to do more but now I thought of reaching out to inmates especially young people as part of bringing about change,” she said.
As a professional electrical engineer, Chikopa said this also came after she received funding from Mudzi Connect, leading her to undertake such an empowerment drive through Pamtondo initiative.
The poet who has also received funding from Copyright Fund which has seen working with deaf people to craft poetry, said the programme has also seen them working with Teveta and that upon completion of the training, the inmates and warders will receive certificates.
“This programme will run up to December and the inmates are assessed by us and then thereafter Teveta will also undertake an assessment that will qualify them to receive certificates to earn them that ticket to work out there without problems,” Chikopa said.
Bvumbwe Young Offenders Rehabilitation Centre’s spokesperson Peter Makoza hailed Chikopa for the initiative saying it is part of their empowerment programmes in reforming inmates.
“We have several other programmes that we are undertaking such as farming and tailoring. We are happy that these 20 have made progress and again, we also have officers that are part of it,” Makoza said.
