Delivery of the diplomas of professional training courses in the Civil Prison of Lichinga, Niassa, Mozambique
February 16, 2011
Learning a job, to have a future after jail.
This is the dream of many prisoners, in Africa and beyond. It is also the concern that solicited the Community of Sant'Egidio to engage, in some prisons in Mozambique, professional training courses.
The experience of recent years has broadly demonstrated that this is the way to avoid the recurrence of crimes that, almost always, are only due to poverty.
The ceremony that was held in Lichinga, in the civil prison, on 10 February, showed this: 60 inmates, both men and women, who in 2010 took part in training courses organized by the Sant'Egidio Community, received diplomas in carpentry, iron working, oven, ceramic, sewing and crafts.
A moment of celebration, which was attended by all current 400 inmates to Lichinga, the director and the entire prison staff, along with a delegation of the Community from Mozambique, Italy and Germany.
The professional training courses, in fact, represent a hope for all detainees and also strengthen the people who work in prison that they must not only be tools for punitive action, but involved in a project of real rehabilitation.