Volunteers share some good citizenship with

The participants of Kainos Community

(by one of our volunteers in HMP Swaleside)

“My husband and I recently spent a day in prison. We were invited to sit in with the men who were having a session on Citizenship. We arrived at 9.00 am and were taken to B wing.  Another volunteer was also with us as He was giving the talks. Arriving in B wing we were brought a cup of tea by Tom, a Kainos Community participant and were told what was going to happen, the men were going to be split up into two groups some having the session in the morning and the rest in the afternoon...

We went into the classroom and got ready for the talk, all we needed now were the men. It was lovely to see the men and be part of their day, after greeting everyone we sat down ready to hear the talk on being a good citizen.

The talk included politics, work, faith, voluntary work, hobbies and keeping fit, all these topics being part of life on the outside. The men were given the opportunity to ask questions regarding the talk and then they were put into three groups to draw a poster on what they had heard. Each of us volunteers joined a group, which I enjoyed thoroughly. The men were all very creative with their posters and then each group was asked to explain what they had drawn. It was then cup of tea time and chat time with the men, which was then followed by lunchtime.

The afternoon session went the same way as the morning with the remaining group of men. The men listened intently, after the question time they were put into two groups to draw their posters. I joined one group and my husband joined the other. Again the men showed their drawing skills each one adding what he thought to the poster they then explained their poster pointing out different aspects of it.

We enjoyed our day with the Kainos Community and it was lovely to be part of their day.