Catholic Sisters of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate (DMI) congregation in Mangochi on Tuesday organized an early Christmas and New Year party with inmates at Mangochi Prison as part of the season’s activities.
During the festivities which were characterized by some performances by both the inmates and the sisters and various groups working with DMI Worldwide, also included donation of some food and non food items which included bales of sugar, orange squash, assorted snacks, laundry and bath soap.
The consignment also comprised some reading materials towards the prison’s library. All the items were valued at K250, 000.
Mangochi Prison Service Officer In – Charge, Senior Superintendent Jonas Chimoto thanked DMI Sisters for taking time out to cheer the inmates, noting that it was another way of preaching the word of God through their charitable activities.
Chimoto reminded inmates on the significance of the Christmas season to mankind saying: “Most of us would just take it for granted that it like any other day yet it is somewhat meant to remind or give us a new lease of life to our spirit.”
He asked the inmates to value the meaning of Christmas and not the material gifts emphasizing that the word of God lives forever while materials presents perish with time. On a different note, Chimoto admitted that some warders treat prisoners inhumanely, pointing out that authorities always admonish such officers.
However, Chimoto disclosed that the prison service maintains an open door policy to different denominations to pray with the inmates in keeping with country’s constitutional right of freedom of worship to prisoners since the inmates were deprived of such an opportunity.
Chimoto asked for support towards the prison’s ambition of offering vocational skills training to prisoners in different trades besides providing the facility with teaching and learning materials indicating that the prison has the capacity to transform those behind bars.
“It is our ambition to reform the prisoners so that they easily integrate into communities when they finish serving their sentences and become very productive citizens in society,” he added.
DMI Women’s World Coordinator, Sr. Mary Vasantha said the sisters have Christmas programme every year and this year saw it fit to celebrate this year’s occasion with the less privileged like prisoners.
“When we talk about the month of December we’re specifically talking about Christmas which is about preaching peace and joy. That season’s happiness has to be spread to others,” Vasantha said.
Vasantha further said was meant to show love to people who were often neglected on the basis that they were an equally important segment of society, considering that most of those who came out of prison have proved to be productive and completely reformed.
She, therefore, assured that DMI would consider providing the prison with capacity building programmes to undertake various technical and vocational skills on top of improving the facility’s infrastructure.
“We’ll engage with the Commissioner of Prisons to see how best we could contribute to the improvement of your living standards, we will not promise anything that we cannot fulfill,” Vasantha pointed out.
Speaking on behalf of the inmates, James Sosola also thanked DMI Sisters from St. John the Baptist for considering the prisoners at the time of Christmas. He, however, asked that the gesture should not be a one – off activity since the inmates face a number of challenges while in confinement.
