Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 09, 2014 News
By Zena Henry
There is nothing like a second chance. It may be a cliché; but the undeniable feeling of being able to do it again is comfort enough for how bad it may have gone the first time. The underlying issue is what is done with that second chance; whether you make the best of it or let opportunity pass you by.
Second chances do not that always come around, but for some, a second chance is just what they need to get their whole world spinning again. Pastor Wendell Jeffrey was given a second chance. He knows what it is to walk the lonely road of darkness before seeing the light.
He is hoping to use his second chance to help others find their light at the end of the tunnel. As an ex-offender, Pastor Jeffrey says he knows what it is like to be caught up in a world of crime, even if circumstances take you there. As such, the born-again man, now messenger, is seeking to start a whole new programme to rehabilitate ex-convicts into society.
However, criminals are not necessarily born, he believes, but are made; and as such, Pastor Jeffrey notes that today’s youth especially with their involvement in crime, are yearning for attention and opportunity.
The Pastor explained that, 16 years ago, he was caught up in the drug trade. “I was a drug dealer.” “I was in prison for four months. I was facing 25 years to life but I was released because of God’s grace. Some said it was because of a legal technicality. But I was running from God and I knew it. God used my incarceration to remind me of the calling he has placed on my life.”
“I grew up in the ghetto; Laing Avenue, just across from Albouystown. I knew poverty, I lived poverty. My father divorced my mother and left her with six children. My mother worked as a maid for a Portuguese family for most of her life. We ate the leftovers from those people for many years.”
“I went to school with old washed out clothes and holes in my shoes. I eventually dropped out of school and became very tyrant and criminal- minded. I was locked up in every police station in Georgetown – East LaPenitence Police Station, East Ruimveldt Police Outpost, La Penitence Police Station, Alberttown Police Station, Brickdam Police Station, Eve leary CID Headquarters, and some I can’t even remember. I was a very troubled youth.”
Pastor Jeffrey believes that the youth of today are no different from those of yesterday. “I believe that they have more negative issues to deal with, while having less support from home and school. There are less role models in the society to look up to and emulate.”
“Parents, teachers, politicians, and spiritual leaders do not have sufficient resources to meet the challenges of today. And in some cases individuals in those above mentioned capacities don’t care enough to expand their knowledge base so that they could adequately deal with the challenges we are up against. Most of us have signed out to the plight of the youth while hoping that someone else will tune in. We have become individualistic; it’s about me, my family, my church, my party; home, everyone else has to fend for themselves. And the youths who are the most troubled are the ones feeling the squeeze.”
As it relates to youth involvement in crime, Pastor Jeffrey explained that “Firstly, I am a Criminologist and a trained Prison Chaplain. Street crimes are being perpetrated mostly by black, unskilled, boys. Don’t let us deny the facts. Therefore, there needs to be a national program to cater, in a sustained way, to the needs the young men have.”
“Secondly, many of the crimes in Guyana are being conducted by repeat offenders. These persons are saying that when they come out of prison they have needs that are difficult to meet. Many of them want to move on with their lives but their limited skill level, further complicated by the stigma of having been incarcerated, makes living more difficult.”
The need therefore, is great and things are not likely to get better soon, Pastor Jeffrey said. “My calling is to work with the offender population and troubled youth. My plan, therefore, is to assist those who are currently incarcerated – both in the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) and in the five adult prisons. Our organization has the land, the architectural drawings for the building and a sustainability plan to create a rehabilitation program for those returning from prison, but we lack the funding.”
“The concept is simple. Construct a facility and a program that will provide housing, employment, vocational training, academic tutelage and spiritual formation for the folks returning from prison with these needs. Then use these rehabilitated, employed, self-actualized individuals as role models for the still troubled and dysfunctional youth.”
“The change will not happen overnight but if we as a society remain focused and we continue to support a formal, consistent, plan of helping our ex-offenders and troubled youth, we could turn Guyana’s crime situation around. There is still hope for our troubled young people.”
“I am speaking here both as a Pastor and as an executive member of the Guyana Inter Religious Organization. The religious community could do a lot to help our youths. Many of the religious organizations have vibrant youth programs.” First Assembly, The 7Th Day Adventist, the Out Reach Ministries, the New Life Ministries, the Central Islamic Organization, the Bahai’s, etc. all have healthy youth-focused programs, he related.
“However, it’s easy to deal with the youth who have accepted God. The religious community must therefore shift some of its focus to the more difficult tasks; that of working with the uneducated, violent and unsaved youths. Additionally, the religious programs conducted in the NOC and the other prisons need to be structured and formalized, so that folks leaving these institutions of incarceration could transition right into the care and fellowship of these spiritual organizations. That continuity would serve to reduce the incidences of repeated crime and recidivism.”
Pastor Jeffrey says he is anxious to express his findings and more than ever anticipates the opportunity to share his views with the officials in civil society and the governmental arenas. “Now, whether the powers that be have the desire to implement such a plan is the troubling question.”
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