Sant’Egidio eases Mulanje Prison’s water woes

The Community of Sant’ Egidio regards imprisonment as an opportunity for offenders to reflect on their lives. It is the time that prisoners need to be loved with the hope that after serving their sentences, they can be accommodated back in the community and become meaningful citizens.

Inspired by the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Community of Sant’Egidio is implementing a number of projects including the Prison Service which has transformed prisoners’ life using the word of God, nurturing friendships and emphasising on the spirit of giving.

During one of the regular visits to Mulanje Prison – the recent one being in November 2017 – the Community of Sant’ Egidio identified unreliable water supply as a challenge in the bid to reform the prisoners.

One of the responsible persons for Community of Sant’ Egidio Bruce Tambwali said the spirit of giving is what motivates the members to make sure that prisoners live in an environment which will help in their reformation.

“Some people feel that prisoners must be punished but what Jesus teaches us is that even prisoners should be loved. When we visited the prisoners last year, we found out that water was a problem. Sometimes it can take three days without running water in the prison,” Tambwali said.

Tambwali said the Borehole Project will cost about K18 million which was raised by the members in Italy.

“We are grateful to our friends in Italy who have contributed a lot to this project. It is important to understand that water is life and no-one can survive without water.

“We will sink a borehole and a pump will be installed too. We will put in place water tanks which would be enough to be used for five days if there was no running water,” he said.

Apart from sinking the borehole, the project will also see the renovation of the water system in the prison.

“We noticed some leakages which we will work on as part of this project. We also want to build a communal kiosk inside the prison which our friends can use,” Tambwali said.

Although the Community of Sant’ Egidio is a non-profit making organisation, Tambwali said the contributions members make has made the community’s work easier.

“We have managed to implement a number of projects because the members are committed to what we do. We believe in giving and sharing because that is what Jesus Christ teaches us,” he said.

Superintendent Charles Nyambo, who is Second-in-Charge of Mulanje Prison, said the project will ensure that the environment inside the prison is clean all the time.

“Whenever you talk about sanitation, then you need to have clean water all the time. Not everyone in prison is allowed to go out of prison so it is important to make water available to prisoners. We thank the Community of Sant’ Egidio for easing our problems,” he said.

Friendship is the foundation on which the work of Sant’Egidio is built on. Through friendship, the Community of Sant’ Egidio is committed to serve the poor.

The students of 1968 who began gathering around the Word of God, felt the Gospel could not be lived far from poor people: poor people as friends and the Gospel as the good news for poor people.

When the service of the community began, it was called People’s School because apart from tutoring, it was the beginning of a friendship between the rich and the poor.