By PRISCILLA SIMUKOKO –
“I TOOK my jail term as though I was in a boarding school confined to studies and not as a prisoner and that is  why I have come out a better person than I went in,” boasts Martin Kolala, who  once served a four-year  jail sentence at Kamfinsa State prison in Kitwe.
Kolala, 30, and married with two children, is today a proud youth who holds no grudge against anyone for sending him to prison.
In fact, he accepts his conviction because it has reshaped his destiny for the better.
Going to jail at the age of 25, almost shattered his dream of a better future life but later, gained courage and took advantage of entrepreneurship skills offered to inmates by the Government.
While other inmates emersed themselves in self pity, Kolala devoted himself to feeling good in a seemingly  hopeless environment.
“I seized the opportunity to get free tertiary education and I knew that one day, I will leave prison to start a new life”, he said.
This was his driving force and Kolala enrolled in various disciplines of Theology by correspondence which included tutorial, discipleship and pastoral courses at Kitwe’s Theology Education by Extension in Zambia(TEEZ, where he obtained certificates.
He also obtained TEVETA certificates in bricklaying and plastering and in carpentry and joinery level 3. Kolala attended several peer education trainings in HIV/AIDS counselling services.
It was one afternoon in 2011 after a church choir practice that he found his nephew who was beaten by unkown people after a drinking spree, lying vomitting at his mother’s home in Solwezi.
”At this point, my mother rushed to draw water from a well to clean his vomit. But while she was drawing  water, my nephew held on to my mother and accidently slipped into the well. We however, managed to hold him by the legs and pulled him out.” he narrated.

. Kolala

Kolala said it was this conduct that upset him to an extent that he picked up a stick and beat his nephew hard on the his legs.
He was later taken to the clinic where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.
Little did he realise that this episode marked the beginning of another chapter in his life.
He was convicted of murder but the case was reduced to manslaughter and Kolala was sentenced to six years imprisonment with hard labour.
Since leaving prison last October, Kolala has been struggling to survive.
He has no money to enable him start his own workshop.
He has all the tools that he needs to start operating a carpentry shop.
“I am just living each day as it comes. My wife sells at the market and proceeds from there supports the family. My children have stopped going to school because they have no uniforms and shoes. When they ask me  when I will send them to school, it pains me, that is why I need help,” he lamented.
Kolala said should he be assisted financially, he would use his acquired skills to run a carpentry business and be able to sustain his family.
Kolala who served as secretary to the Prisons Chaplain, admits that life after prison is not easy and is now appealing to well-wishers to help him start a new life again.
Before going to prison he completed his grade 12 but did not write his final examination because his parents could not raise the required fees to pay for him.
His hope to live as a responsible citizen now depends on the response the community will give him.
As youths countrywide celebrate this years’ Youth Day, which is focusing on building a stable and sustainable future, Kolala’s plight like many other youths, should be looked into in order to build his future so that he contribute to national development more effectively.
Kolala says it pains him to see how youths are committing crime with impunity nowadays and advises policy makers to look more into issues  that are affecting youths for them to come up with solution to help  the young people  to have stable and sustainable future.— ZANIS