Gumbura, who was among the 24 participants of the
programme, hailed the words of the late Vice President John Landa Nkomo when he
said ‘peace begins with me, peace begins with you and peace begins with us’.
Participants included prison officers, inmates sentenced to
death, life in prison and those serving more than 20 years and classified as
dangerous inmates in Class D.
“This programme is very important in the sense that it
transforms one’s life from within, healing the soul and preparing one to join
the society upon release,” said Gumbura.
“You become a tree of life and give fruits of peace and
live peacefully in communities.
“The late Vice President once spoke about this when he said
peace begins with me, peace begins with you and peace begins with us and this
programme is now building on that and I am happy about it,” said Gumbura.
Gumbura was convicted of four counts of rape and one of
possession of pornographic material and sentenced to 40 years.
One of the rehabilitation officers among the participants,
Chief Correctional Officer Constance Charehwa said the program helped her a lot
since her job involves handling inmates classified as dangerous criminals.
“We have moved from punitive to correctional measures in an
effort to prepare inmates to be accepted back in the society,” said Charehwa.
“It takes energy, time and sound mind to handle inmates who
come here denying their cases although convicted and this demands cleaning of
the mind daily.
“One of the inmates regretted the years he spent at remand
prison while denying his case and if he had not wasted the court’s time he
could have served his sentence and released.
“Peace begins by being honest with your life, giving your
life to God and accepting every situation you come across.
“As for me peace education is cleaning my mind, keeping me
above hard criminals and teaching me to interact with these inmates in a
peaceful manner and I need the same peace after work,” said Charehwa. H Metro
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