Community Medical Outreach Programme

INTRODUCTION
A reentry meeting was conducted today at Luzira women’s prison with inmates who are
preparing for release in a period of 4 months and below. The meeting focused on building a
strong supportive network for life after prison

OBJECTIVES

• To fight and reduce cases of racidism among released prisoners
• To prepare inmates mentally and emotionally for life outside prison
• To equip them with knowledge and positive mindset for successful reintegration

SENSION FLOW
Worshiping God
We started the session by worshiping God in some few songs and with the word, the women
sung together to welcome God’s presence and create a positive open atmosphere for the spirit
of wisdom, understanding and transformation

Recap of the last meeting (setting realistic goals)
we recapped the previous the previous session on setting Mr. Ssuubi asked inmates what are
some of the things they are planning to do as soon as the leave prison they were advised to be
careful and intentional about who they meet and talk to because these people does a very big
impact in their lives and these were some of their answers
Finding a good church and start serving God
Finding a good job
Setting up personal businesses i.e. company dealing in agricultural produce (millet, sorghum,
beans, etc.) as well as doing farming aside that and she has her daughter to support her and
work with

Example
Woman leaves prison wanting to start a catering business, friend A says forget these small
things friend B says my church has a function next month, let me introduce you to the organizer
Who do you choose? Every one of them chose the first person. Ask yourself what happens to
my life when this person is around me and what do I loose when they are not around me?
Choose friends that drive you towards your goal not those who push you back

What does a good friend look like?
This was another question to ask each other to find good qualities of people we would allow to
be close in our new life and some of the replies were; honesty, keeps their words, respects
boundaries, encourages work, etc. These people should not pressure you into wrong doing Mr. Ssuubi called upon all member to be that person that they admire to be around them ie
looking nice, smelling good, behaving good, being trustworthy, etc. for the other people to also
trust them and called upon everyone chose good company used a scripture in proverbs 13:20”
walk with the wise and become wise.”

Three tests, character, direction influence
Before bringing someone in your life use those three things to test them

Your reentry team has different roles
Encourager, someone to talk to when I want to give up, truth teller-someone who tells me the
truth them in making a bad decision, mentors-someone with experience in the direction I want
to go etc.
How do actually meet good people, go where positive people for example church, community
groups, business environment etc.
Stay in contact, call appropriately, send a message, attend again, thank them, update them on
progress
Be reliable, if you say you will come at 9, try to come at 9

PARTICIPATION
Women were very active during this session and so thankful to god having brought us to them
as a solution and said their lives are seriously transforming, they are ready to face life outside
without fear
KEY OUTCOMES
They learned how to evaluate true friends using three tests
Women committed to becoming trustworthy towards their friends’ women understood the
importance of intentional relationships after release
Outside this topic some women asked questions about national identification card
And we talked about what a national identification card is? Its importance, how to get it, how
to replace
Some of the questions were
My national id got lost while in prison, what should I do
The possible answer was replacement

Can I use my national id to travel abroad after many years of being incarcerated? The answer
was ye
If I happen to travel abroad, can they use my national id to trace weather I was once a prisoner?
We are still doing more research about it

Who currently have influence in your life
This was a big question Mr. Ssuubi asked the inmates which kind of individuals are currently
influencing their lives, how do they behave, how is their impact/influence toward them
members were asked to reflect inside their hearts and give themselves answers without telling anyone Achieving goals require people and a team around you for your goals to become successful.
Members were asked to imagine their life is an organization who are the people they could bring on board and these were some of the answers

• Religious leaders
• Business partners
• Lawyers
• Health personnel
• Loved ones

Who are the people taking you forward towards the future you want? this was another question that was asked to learners because we identified there are some people we don’t need in your life because they don’t have qualification to keep you up. Make sure these people
are positive

Build people around your goal
One needs to know who do I need to help me achieve, what do I already know? Who do I still
need to find and here were some of the answers; church members, prayer partner, spiritual
growth, community organization, mentor, suppliers, etc.

Networking is not using people
It does not mean finding people you can use, do not make every relationship “what you can
give “they were asked what can you bring in a good relationship or connection Answers were; respect, honesty, gratitude, reliability, prayer, encouragement, time, skills, etc.
sometimes call to say thank you, how are you, I prayed for you today, you advised me about
this I want you to know I did it, etc. Become the kind of a friend you want What makes you someone that a good person would love for a friend If you want trust worthy friend, be trust worthy,
If you want honesty fiend be honest, If you want people who keep their word, keep your word” do not only look for good people,
become the kind of a good person people like around them. Write your bad habits and good
habits

One woman gave a testimony that before coming to prison she was living a bad life and since
she was coming from a moslem back ground no one could help direct her life but after coming
in prison she has learned to be good person through our reentry classes and she is willing to
give her life to Jesus to start a new life after prison
My personal reentry board; draw a circle in the middle write me, around it my goals, my
encourager, my truth teller, someone I still need to meet, one connection you can bring before
leaving prison

CONCLUSION
The session ended with the word of prayer and words of encouragement, the women were reminded that wells of home women’s safe home continues to be part of their supportive network for example we provide a safe home for women who lack don’t have where to stay after prison

After a session with women we happened to have some time with the prison welfare telling her how far we have gone with our lessons and she was so thankful for the big impact we are doing in these women who are soon leaving prison because sometimes if they don’t get such teachings they tend to develop fear at their time of release of how life is going to be outside but for this case women are so excited for the new life they are yet to get out of prison because they have been prepared mentally, psychologically, socially, emotionally etc. which means our work in impacting lives positively