A Christian Inmate’s Christmas

AsiaOne

For "Alex" (not his real name), marking Christmas behind bars hasn't stopped him from sharing the spirit of giving.   Spending some of his time in a prison bakery work programme, "Alex" hopes to one day open his own baking business and to reconcile with his son after his release.   Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video

Transcript

00:00When I leave prison, I would be quite old. I believe to get myself hired might have a

00:09bit of problem. So, might as well using this time when I still have while I'm in prison

00:16to pick up this skill which I'm interested in, and then in future to prep myself so that

00:22I can start off more with some home baking business, and then from there we will see

00:26how it goes. When you get this thing all put together, like the flour and all that kind

00:36of ingredients, and then after that, voila, this thing comes out like a cookie or a brownie

00:44or maybe a gingerbread, then you feel the satisfaction there. Christmas celebration

00:48is all about food, sharing and giving, and then I guess I miss everything because my

00:52friends are Christians also, so they celebrated Christmas outside. We went to his house, we

00:56enjoyed the food, and then we have some gifts exchanged, all that kind of thing, so it's

01:01actually quite warm down there. I have been apprehended since 2016. I was sentenced 25

01:10years on drug-related issues. What led me to drugs? Actually, more on family breakdown,

01:17financial issues. Well, because I'm not earning much, and then I got to feed a family,

01:24and a son, and a house, and a dog, and a car. So as time goes by, of course, financial is a

01:31big burden for me. Yellow Ribbon Bakery is actually part of the yellow ribbon industry,

01:39and we actually offer them the opportunity to learn a new skill, which is baking. Anybody who

01:45wishes to actually be, to join the work program or the prison work program, they can actually just

01:51sign up. It doesn't matter if they have interest in baking, as long as they are interested to learn

01:56a new skill, we will just take them in. The most important is that they are learning through this

02:00process. So then that's when their journey of rehabilitation starts. I used to be, I would say,

02:07quite a bad temper, not bothering other people's feelings, and then doing things without thinking

02:14of consequences. After my sentence, I have been cooping up in my cell, not willing to come out to

02:20join anybody for yard time, not willing even to communicate with people or talk to people.

02:26I got this email actually, who came up to me, give me a coding, and then tell me that I shouldn't

02:31carry on like that, or else I will just suffer all the way for the rest of my life, was the

02:36sentence in here. Thank you very much, dear friend. You really bring me up from the darkness into the

02:42light. When I started joining the Christian counselling group, through their preachings and

02:48through their counselling, they actually changed my mindset a lot. Because after attending this

02:53counselling, I sort of felt more relieved and more peaceful. I think Christianity has taught me to be

03:03a forgiving person, forgiving what others have done to me, and forgiving myself for doing bad

03:11to others, and hopefully that God of course will pardon all my sins. I can't continue the way that

03:18I am, since this is already a fixed thing that I can't change. And then not forgetting is also a

03:24part of a learning stage whereby I realise my mistake, or I learn from my mistake that I will

03:31not repeat the same thing again. So I have not to forget all those wrong things that I've done.

03:36This is my first time in prison, and then being first time I was given 25 years, I think

03:42nobody would have expected that and would have accepted it. But it took me about two to three

03:47years to really open up and come to terms with this sentence. I believe I've hurt my ex-wife,

03:56I've hurt my son during this case of mine. So now that they are not visiting me, so

04:06maybe it's part and parcel, I think it's something like a retribution,

04:12should I put it that way, that they are venting on me.

04:20With my son, yes. My son should be 21 this year. The last time I spoke to him was his one and only

04:27visit to prison in 2016 February. That's all. There's nothing much I can remember about him.

04:35Sad to say nothing, nothing, because I am not very close to my son too.

04:40There's nothing I can do to patch things up at this time of the point. So the only thing

04:47I can do is wait till my release, then we will see how things go. I have to learn to forgive

04:52myself, because I've hurt them. I should move on now.

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