Mentors with a difference

Nilesh composed a song which brought his audience to tears.

JOSEPH Wong has been teaching juvenile delinquents in Selangor for the past five years: first at Sekolah Integriti Kajang and then after it moved to the Puncak Alam correctional centre in Shah Alam in 2018.

The pre-release “Kelas Care” organised by Malaysian CARE is usually held in the heat of the afternoon. It can be a challenge for the students to stay awake, let alone stay on topic.

“I’ve never seen their full focus on the trainer, ” says Wong, a staffer with the community development department of Malaysian CARE, a non-governmental organisation.

But last month, he brought ex-juvenile delinquent Ajib (not his real name) with him. “I was quite surprised, ” says Wong. “He completely caught their attention. They really looked at him and listened to him.”

For the past year, seven ex-prisoners have been working as facilitators in a new pre-release programme at Kajang men’s prison, as well as the older programme at Puncak Alam.

At the latter last month, Ajib conducted a lesson about the danger of drugs and cigarettes, the subject that day. But he also talked about his own experience at the Sekolah Integriti and his life after release. When he was 18, he was sentenced to three years at Sekolah Integriti.

“I told them how I faced all the challenges and how I created my own second chance for my life, ” he says. “I wanted to focus on the future, ” he says. “It was not the end of my life.”

At Sekolah Integriti, he sat for the STPM exam and scored four As. He attended the pre-release class and also picked up as many computer skills as he could. Ajib was accepted into Universiti Malaysia Sabah. Malaysian CARE assisted in sourcing sponsors for his first year there and the Discharged Prisoners’ Aid Society sponsored the rest of his time.

In between his classes, Ajib found time to represent his university in public speaking and sports, gave free tuition to needy undergraduates, helped out the Sabah Autism Association, and gave motivational talks at Henry Gurney Schools in Keningau and in Kota Kinabalu Women’s Prison.

“My caseworker at Malaysian CARE, Fred Foo, often told me to be sure to balance my studies with all these programmes, ” he remembers.

Despite all the extracurricular activities, Ajib earned a Bachelor’s degree with Upper Second-Class Honours. Today, after working as a part-time lecturer at his alma mater and as a brand ambassador for several local and international NGOs, he is working as a fundraiser for an international NGO in Kuala Lumpur.

At the end of his class, two or three students came to Ajib with questions about further studies and whether there could be life after prison.

“I said yes, because I am the testimony, ” he says. “I came out of prison and now I can give back to society, because society gave me a lot. People knew my background but still supported me.”

Wong could see the effect Ajib had on his class at Puncak Alam: “We can tell them 10 times they have to change, ” he says, “but it cannot compare with the one time Ajib said that to them.”

Last December, another ex-juvenile delinquent took part in the Hope Programme at Puncak Alam. Nilesh (not his real name), 21, had composed a song about his struggle and his love for his mother.

The inmates could relate to the lyrics, recalls Sam Lim, coordinator with Malaysian CARE’s community development department: “They were all sniffling and sobbing as they rehearsed the song before the performance.”

Nilesh is now practising the skill he learned – car painting – and living with his uncle.

Allowing ex-prisoners to become mentors is a “brilliant move”, says Lim. “The words of those who have gone through prison and become successful later make a big impact on those looking forward to having a decent life after prison.”