A group of young people, who have been barricaded behind the walls of Bomana Prison, is slowly emerging with self-confidence through PNG Tribal Foundation’s “Senisim PNG Program”.
The youngest in the group, a 12-year-old boy, has little or no knowledge of the outcome of his court case and wondering if he will ever be accepted by his parents and families again.
Since the program on teaching good values and servant leadership started, the prison’s inmates have shown self-confidence and purpose within themselves.
They are confident to changing their lives for the better when they walk out of Bomana Prison after completing their terms.
Bomana Juvenile second officer in charge Corporal Joyce Silma told Tribal Foundation that they had seen small changes occurring but at a slow pace because of the Senisim PNG table sessions with the inmates.
Corp Silma said she was looking forward to seeing a positive result when the 11-week program ended.
“Cheekiness amongst themselves is one biggest challenge and we are dealing with it daily and we also conduct night devotions to help them as well,” she said.
Senism PNG national coordinator Phillie Marai added: “At first, many shy away and have little courage to speak out, answer questions and get engage in the group discussions but now we’ve seen them coming out participating.
“Every end of session we give them one value to practice each week such as respect, listen, hope amongst others, they return the following week evaluating themselves with the value they practise and it helped them a lot.”
A juvenile (named) vowed he would stop saying bad words and it actually while another promised to share food and clothes with his peers and it worked for him.
“I used to get angry a lot but since I tried my best to read the booklet of all the values inside, I realised my mistakes of not listening to my parents when I was at home,” another juvenile said.
The Senisim PNG Program is currently in its fourth week and certificates will be issued to the juveniles after completion.