Mozambique: The Project “Human Rigth of Prisoners", life must not end with prison
April 27th 2010

Poverty, lack of livelihood, school dropout, lack of work: these are the causes that drive many in Mozambique, as elsewhere, to a life of expedients that can easily slip into illegality.

These are the most frequent causes of so many detentions, destined to be repeated endlessly if the root of the problem of ensuring a detainee a realistic chance to maintain himself 'and his family, once back home is not addressed.

This is why the Community of Sant'Egidio, for many years, is committed to the training of Mozambican detainees, not only with literacy courses, but also with specific vocational courses, which teach a trade, help the social reintegration at the end of the sentence.

Courses to be potters, bakers, carpenters, cobblers .... This means that the inmates once they return home with, "a job in hand", and with the tools of the trade really have the chance for new life.

This year the Community's commitment in this area has been strengthened, thanks to a specific project, supported by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Maputo, entitled "Direitos humanos dos reclusos.

It started in June 2009 and will run for three years (until December 31, 2011). It provides human rights training courses for volunteers of the Community who go to visit the prisoners and vocational training to prisoners of three Mozambican provinces. In 2009 the project was launched in the province of Niassa and in 2010, it has been extended into Cabo Delgado, I twill reach Nampula in 2011.

A number of laboratories have been realized: in Lichinga we built a pavilion to house the capentry course with the necessar tools, both manual and electrical. A sewing workshop was launched recently with the purchase of a number of professional sewing machines.