Some 90 inmates of the Nsawam Medium Prisons were rebranded into change agents to administer change in the prison walls of Nsawam during the graduation ceremony that was held today Monday 14th of March 2022 at the Prisons Headquarters, Cantonments Accra.
International Youth Fellowship (IYF) Ghana, Christian Leaders Fellowship-USA, and the Ghana Prison Service collaborated for the ceremony. Most prison inmates in our prisons today have little or no hope in educating themselves whiles serving their jail sentences.
International Youth Fellowship Ghana, Christian Leaders Fellowship-USA in collaboration with the Ghana Prison Service has taken some inmates through Biblical Theology and the Mindset Education Programme for the past two years and are due to graduate to become reverend ministers in the prisons. This same occasion marks the opening of Theology Schools in the other prison installations across the country.
International Youth Fellowship (IYF), a Christian organization, inaugurated this bible school and mindset education programme at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison in the year 2019 to facilitate reformation and rehabilitation of the prisons.
The programme was instituted by the IYF, in collaboration with the Police and Corrections Forum (PCF), a non-governmental organization (NGO), and the Ghana Prisons Service.
Interestingly, the Special Guest of Honour; Rev Dr. Kim Ki-sung is a beneficiary of such an initiative after serving16-year jail term in South Korea and has now become an Ambassador of change in most prisons around the world.
The International Youth Fellowship; strives to guide young people to break free from fear, hopelessness, and sin that darkens their hearts and lead them to live a happy and bright life with the “MINDSET EDUCATION CONCEPT”.
Mindset Education Concept teaches the world of the heart, captures psychosocial counseling, character reforming techniques, and emotional intelligence.
Compared to economic growth and materialistic wealth, the value of the human mind is overlooked by modern society. Our society, which is rapidly developing, has its focus on increasing and expanding materialistic economic values.
Consequently, more emphasis is placed on quantitative expansion rather than inner values, with more and more cases of justifying the means by the ends.
This has been one of the major reasons most young people end up in prison; using shortcuts to make ends meet.
Through mindset education, the International Youth Fellowship precisely teaches the world of the heart and the kind of mentality that will lead inmates to a successful and happy life. Most of our social problems today are often explained only in terms of superficial causes such as poverty, illiteracy, and bad development policies.
However, if policymakers do not come to know the fundamental reason for the problems that bedevil us as a society, such occurrences are likely to remain unresolved and would rather get worse than better.
In his address, Rev Dr Kim Ki-sung, Country Director of IYF, “said mindset education is very important in one’s life. For someone or for a country to thrive, one must change his or her mindset”.
Telling the success story of South Korea after the war, he said South Korea has no natural resources but rather had leaders with mindset education to build the country to its current state.
He urged everyone present at the event to erase the word ” impossible” and react with “possible” in their minds. Emphasizing the word “possible” can change one’s way of doing things to achieve the greatest in life.
A representative speaking on behalf of the Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service; Mr. Isaac Kofi Egyir said the Ghana Prisons Service is committed to charging the mindset of inmates to be good abiding citizens.
Adding that, the Mindset Education Concept is in the accordance with prisons service core mandate and will go a long way to help the inmates.
Richard Nyarko, an ex-convert who participated in the Mindset Education Concept thanked IYF for introducing such an important initiative within the wall of the prison; he, therefore, urged inmates to part take in the mindset education concept hence it will go a long way to improve their lives.
