Name: Choice: The Peace Education Program at Zonderwater Prison
Uploaded: 2016-10-02T14:38:09.000Z
Duration: 27 min 8 s
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The Peace Education Program at Zonderwater Prison

Zonderwater is a maximum security prison located in Cullinan, South Africa.

It houses 3,000 inmates, 1688 of which are maximum offenders,

and 476 of which are serving life sentences.

It is known as one of the most progressive prisons

When I was outside before I was arrested,

and then awaiting trial, I was always focused outward.

I was worried what other people were thinking of me, I was…

running around trying to impress others all the time.

due to this thought that people with money,

So, I was distracted and desperated for money, of course.

My life before I came to prison, I thought I was living well…

but not realizing that I’m lying to myself.

Because I was somebody who was ruthless, who was heartless.

When you think of inmates, people feel…

“How can you go? Just leave them alone!

“They’ve committed a crime. Just leave them alone.”

But having spent so much time with inmates in correctional facilities,

they’re just human beings like you and me, that have made mistakes.

The first time I arrived here, it was made very much difficult for me,

especially to accept the situation at which I was,

Life in Zonderwater before Peace Education was tough for me.

has been made available to inmates at Zonderwater Prison.

and you say, “Well, you know, why am I here?

It is the choices that you make that’ll get you out of here.

And it is the choices you make that will keep you out of here forever.

It is not a question of being fortunate or unfortunate,

It’s not like a book, you know, Dignity for Dummies.

the very heart of dignity in the human being.

And I witness that every week, when I’m at the prison.

I used to see inmates behaving in a bad way.

But some others, I encouraged them to do the program,

after me, after I’ve seen the first piece of transformation,

I can see that indeed, even the environment inside,

I witness it working by addressing the dignity in the human being,

And not teaching how to be respectful, not teaching how to be dignified.

It’s so amazing and wonderful to see changes in offenders.

Sometimes we don’t see the value of these programs to offenders,

confess the good that it has done for them, it makes it wonderful.

They’re seeing less anger, less aggression.

They’re seeing better communication skills.

I was ashamed to talk to people, because of what I did.

But since I’ve done this wonderful program,

For the first time in my life, I started looking at myself,

accepting myself and actually loving myself.

And that made a huge difference in my life.

Since I started to attend the peace talks, it has been to me

Because I started to realize that I was stuck in the past.

How did the court, the judge judged me…

the community I’m coming from… all those things.

And I thought maybe, it looks as if my life has been taken away.

But since I started to do Peace Education Program,

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Choice: The Peace Education Program at Zonderwater Prison

people

life

find

human