HARARE - Haunted by images of semi-naked, starving prisoners, the Methodist Church in Harare, through its humanitarian arm, the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, last week donated material worth $3 000 for Chikurubi Prison inmates to make their own uniforms. The prison has a maximum holding capacity of 560 inmates. After realizing that prison inmates around the country were facing a number of challenges, such as lack of suitable clothing and food, we decided to assist. Fabric and sewing machine accessories donated would enable dressmaking specialist prison inmates at Chikurubi, to manufacture uniforms comprised of shirt and trousers for each of the 560 inmates. This would be a cost effective and skills enhancement exercise as dressmakers serving jail terms would be engaged in the programme. There would be some surplus which will be distributed to inmates at other prisons around the country, said the societys president for Harare District, Darlington Chapfika.
The donation comprised 580 meters of double cloth worth $1 300, 50 rolls of sewing thread and sewing machine accessories among others. Inmates would also share 280 bars of blue soap and 560 units of Petroleum Jelly. We donated 14 bags of fertilizer and 200 kilograms of maize seed to the prison. We will be visiting prisons around the country to access needs of inmates and assist where possible since our resources still permit, said Chapfika.
At the height of the famine in prisons, the society provided farm inputs and equipment for prison inmates to grow food crops at various prison farms. Chapfika said this resulted in bumper harvests at prison farms. They also provided food and other basic requirements such as soap and blankets for prisoners. Broken-down grinding mills at Chikurubi were serviced and rehabilitated by the church to the tune of over $4 000.
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