The rain drizzle had just seized in Balaka on Monday. The town is at the crossroads of the cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe and Zomba, and the Mangochi municipality. A rail line passing through the town leads you to Nayuchi, on the border with Mozambique.
Nestled on the quieter part of the town is the Half Way House. On a first encounter, you would not know it is a Malawi Prison Service (MPS) correctional facility.
It is a unique prison establishment, with no such high walls and barbed wires as Maula, Zomba or Chichiri prisons. As a matter of fact, you would think it is a lodge, an educational facility or a production site for a commercial entity.
You would not be mistaken. In other prisons you find male prisoners in white prison garbs, while female inmates put on stripped blue-and white uniforms, the residents (not inmates) at the Half Way house don red work suits.
One of the residents, Mirriam Mazoko is a widow from Kasungu. She volunteers to talk to us, garbed in the red overalls, straight from an early lunch, a communal nsima and soya pieces dish locally known as mmemo.
She recalls of March 6 2024, when she was convicted to serve 11 months in prison for buying stolen cloth material. That day, when she first entered the gates of Matchaya Prison, her thoughts were on the future of her four children, the eldest being 19 and the youngest seven.
From Matchaya she was taken to Kachere Prison.
On 31 August last year, a glimmer of hope shone in her life when she was chosen to be part of the 7th cohort to get hands on training in tailoring and design at the Half Way House, which is run in collaboration with the Prison Fellowship Malawi.
“When I was imprisoned, I felt sorry for myself. I reckoned my children’s future was doomed. Out there, I was buying and selling kaunjika, but with imprisonment, it meant my relatives would have to fend for them. But now I am happy because of the tailoring skills I have, I will be able to make ends meet,” she says, looking forward to her graduation later this month.
On another sewing machine next to her is Martha Joji. She asserts she was into the illegal charcoal business at Nancholi in Blantyre, a crime that can earn you ten years in jail, or a fine of K10 million.
But, it wasn’t for that crime that she was incarcerated in 2023. It was for a love crime.
The mother of two recalls: “I was in a relationship with a married man. The man had another mistress and one day I picked up a fight with her. Unfortunately, in the course of the fight, I hurt her eye so much that they had to gauge it out at the hospital.”
She was slapped with five years’ imprisonment, of which she has done one and half years. She is most excited that her business, outside prison, will be legal, following the training.
“I have learned a lot here. I hope a tailoring business will help me a lot. I will no longer trade in charcoal. Neither will I engage in unnecessary fights. The spiritual lessons we have here have brought me closer to God. The fight that led to my imprisonment was because I had lost God,” declares Joji.
The two are part of prison officer Elias Maseya’s class. He says for six months, they have been trained in tailoring and fashion design through theory and practical lessons.
“It is all about getting knowledge of tools and equipment, winding sewing machines and threading. At the end of the training, they are able to come out with different outfits for men, women and children. I have been here since 2017, imparting this knowledge, apart from my work as a gaoler,” says Maseya.
A few metres away is the carpentry workshop, which is combined with the electrical appliances repair prison novices, about to be released from detention. There you find 18-year-old Vincent Chinomba, who has been at the Half Way House from Bvumbwe Young Offenders Prison in Thyolo.
As Chinomba is busy operating a machine to cut timber, his colleagues are busy working out a roof truss. Another group is with their instructor Ali Kwenje close by repairing cookers, fans, kettles and other electric appliances.
“Being a juvenile, I was incarcerated for stealing a mobile phone. I was just a mere student at Thekerani Secondary School. From here, I will set up a shop. When you have the skills we have, people come to you for services. I came in blank but I will go out with knowledge on how to run a business,” beamed the last born in a family of four.
The electricals class instructor Kwenje has worked in various prison establishments in the country after his training at the Domasi Works Training College in Zomba. These include the Zomba and Blantyre central prisons, Mulanje, Neno, Dedza, Chikwawa and the Mapanga training base. He is now one of the instructors training the 52 residents at the facility, six of whom are women.
“It is a very important training as it accords prisoners with skills for survival in four major areas: electrical installation and repairs, safety and wiring. When they are released, they can work in domestic as well as commercial ventures,” he said.
In the welding class, 26 year-old Godfrey Chauwa from Chika Village in T/A Njombwa’s area in Kasungu, who brings out the spirit, fluidly. “We have learnt a lot. Although most of us didn’t go to school, we will be able to have a better life out there. The skills from here, keeps me a mile ahead of the bush welder,” he says.
If you were to understand the notion behind the Half Way House, another welding apprentice, Agness Masamba from Tomasi in Thyolo, encapsulates it all.
“I never went to school. I don’t know what it is like to learn. I had no hope at all, but now I am putting my life together,” she says.
Her mentor, Sergeant Allan Tomwefe that the training does not consider whether one has any formal education. It is all about fabrication and welding lessons, which commenced in August last year.
“In six months, they are able to prepare material for fabrication and eventually produce window and door frames. They are in not because of their education or the lack of it, but these skills enable them to find a better life after prison. And, they don’t just learn, they get start up tools on release,” he says.
Ex-inmate Jailosi Rajabu is a product of the Half Way House. In 2017, the 32-year-old father of three was convicted to five years for swindling. He was innocent, as one of his friends implicated him in the case. But in 2018, he was released from Mpyupyu Prison in Zomba, following a presidential pardon.
Today, he says his carpentry shop at Nsenema in Machinga is thriving and he employs another carpenter. He has garnered enough capital that he frequently travels to South Africa to buy other goods which he sells.
“I was on the carpentry and joinery programme. Apart from the theory and practical lessons, we also had spiritual teaching. Even more, on graduation, I was given two planes, two saws, a folk shelf, a G Clump and a Such Clump. These are the tools of my trade,” he says.
Half Way House executive director Rodrick Zalimba says since it was established in 2001, it has engaged in the vocational trainings to help them re-integrate easily in society when they are released.
“We get prisoners from all over the country after we assess them. The training follows Teveta modules and include entrepreneurship skills. We also have psycho-social counseling as they await their release,” he says.
Not just vocational training
Apart from the vocational skills, PFM project coordinator Precious Lihoma says the prisoners also undergo religious teaching, that involves stewardship and discipleship. Under a transformation chaplaincy initiative, the prisonser’s journey prepares the prisoners spiritually for the outside world.
“The basic fact is that the prisoners have to learn from the life of the world’s most famous prisoner: Jesus Christ. The prisoners come from different faiths but every Thursday afternoon we dedicate time for spiritual lessons,” he says, adding that they hold morning devotions daily.
He recalls of one prisoner who was so afraid to be released, as he feared the community would kill him on his release.
Asserts Lihoma: “We had deep prayers with him. We went further, like we mostly do, and talked to his victims on the power of forgiveness. he got back to society and reintegrated.”
According to the fellowship’s programmes officer Cornelius Luwesi, the other component is The Child’s Journey, under which inmates’ prisoners are invited for the Angels Tree event where they interact with their parents for further bonding.
“We also make sure that inmates’ children have proper access to health unhindered education and proper shelter. They have to understand their parents’ situation and cope up with it,” he says.
