On July 18th we took a tour of The Wema Centre Trust grounds The amount of projects this safe haven for Kenyan abused and abandoned children has undertaken rivals American group homes or residential facilities any day. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself. Seeing the calves they raise for milk grazing next to playing children, using the cow manure for energy (complete with concrete pathways to direct the flow of manure), and selling their livestock, fruits, vegetables, etc to local restaurants, you’d think you were looking at the results of some recent “Sustainable Green Initiatives” project some hippy UC Berkeley doctoral student. But this is not an experiment, it’s real life. And what’s more, this is occurring at an orphanage.
Real life was taken to new heights toward the end of our tour. We learned of their newest project – a fish pond. The goal is to farm tilapia and sell them locally for added revenue. Our group stood on the grass and watched men working on what looked like the beginnings of a pool for the classic American backyard. Men had shovels, hoes and even a jackhammer. As we looked at the workers in their matching striped outfits resembling pajamas, we learned one added piece – they were prisoners.
Yes, that is what I said - prisoners. Working on a fish pond. Right behind the dorms of little Kenyan orphaned girls. PRISONERS. You know, the kind of prisoners who are in PRISON??? Yeah, those kind – in broad daylight. Did I mention there were children not far away??
So by now you’re thinking, “Well, surely they were chained together somehow,” or “There must have been at least 10-15 guards present as well.” Maybe you are thinking, “Well, it’s not so bad since the little girls were at school. I’m sure those prisoners would be lead away in handcuffs before the girls got home.” This is what I will say to your thoughts: no, no and no. There were no chains. There were no handcuffs. There was ONE guard – and he was chillin (with no gun or taser in sight). There were not only kids on the grounds (girls and boys), but they were playing outside without much supervision.
We of course began with our comments of disbelief and questions about how this could be possible. Someone asked, “But wait. Can’t they just hop over the fence and run? What is stopping them from escaping right now?” Wema employee Mr. Ben (our temporary guide that morning) began to smile a smile that said, “That is a ridiculous question.” He chuckled and said in his well-structured Kenyan English, “They cannot do that. They will not.” We all just stared.
Mr. Ben explained that authorities allow the prisoners to do jobs such as these in locations close to the prison (the prison is down the road from The Wema Centre) so that they can gain back a sense of productivity in society. Speaking of Kenyans Mr. Ben stated, “We like to make them feel as though they have not done such a bad thing.” They work, stop to climb a coconut tree for a coconut water break, greet any passersby if need be, work some more then return to prison at the end of the day.
It struck me how different this was than our own US prison system where we tend to isolate our men in prisons far from urban areas (and definitely away from children) and prevent them from interacting with society until they get out. We don’t allow them to feel the rewarding feeling of knowing they not only built a commercial size fish farming pond, but that they created a source of income for some of the most vulnerable abandoned girls in the Mombasa area. How much local community cred would you get for listing that project on your Ex-Convict Redeeming Qualities resume??
Many US prisoners are treated as less than human, incapable of being members of society, and then we wonder why they don’t function well when asked to rejoin its ranks. While I am no expert on the Kenyan or US prison system, I could not help thinking about the possible reduction in US recidivism rates if we employed a more humane philosophy toward the treatment of our prisoners. It just made so much sense to me that this Kenyan approach should be emulated. Creating a sense of purpose, industry, productivity, accomplishment, role fulfillment and maybe even some just seems like a no-brainer when it comes to rehabilitating prisoners.
I pondered this on the drive home looking out the window at the bustling evening Mombasa life. And sure enough, in the midst of my deep thoughts, I saw a prisoner sweeping the prison grounds on the OUTSIDE of the gates on the main road, with no guard in sight.
Dr. Ron cleans the wound of one of the prisoners after he cut himself climbing the tree to get coconuts for our group to drink. Note: the prison guard in the background while plain clothes people observe close by.
blogpost contributor: Jennifer Noble
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