Today, Peter Mosabi Kihingu is a changed man living a new life. He is also happy to embolden other people who have walked the same rough road he did before he saw the light.
After his release from prison, Kihingu lived with his brother for one month but he still had a problem adjusting to the rest of the society.
"Once out of prison, it is not easy to fit back into society," he says. "It is as if wherever you go, the word prisoner is stitched onto your forehead."
However, he did not let this put him down for ever. One day, Kihingu attended a church in Umoja where he met Pastor Maurice Mwarandu who encouraged him to give his testimony.
"I was shocked by the reaction. Members screamed in joy because most could remember about my daring escape. They mobbed me happily after the service, the kindest thing anyone had ever done for me in a long time," he recalls.
The pastor gave Kihingu a place to live in, food and clothes. He then joined a fellow worshipper who preached on the streets of Nairobi and together they embarked on spreading the message of salvation. Kihingu never forgot to give his moving testimony.
During one of these meetings, Kihingu was invited to work as an evangelist at the Milimani Bible Centre. He accepted the invitation but did not stop preaching on the streets.
One day, while preaching at Jeevanje Gardens with Pastor Pius Muiru, a man approached him. He had been so impressed with Kihingu’s testimony that he asked the preacher to lead him in a prayer for salvation.
"‘What would you like me to give you because I have been stealing from God by not paying my tithe?’ The man asked me after we had a long chat," Kihingu says.
This was an interesting question and Kihingu pondered it for some time. "I told him I needed equipment to preach the gospel and I was shocked when he offered to buy them the following day." After purchasing a complete public address system, the man gave Kihingu some money for his upkeep.
"From then on, I decided to do what I had vowed to do when I left prison. I thought it would be good to talk about myself, my past life and what had happened in prison. I began with open-air meetings on the streets and was surprised at the positive response. Hundreds of people got saved including former prisoners. The ex-prisoners continuously asked me for advice on how to make a clean break from their criminal lives and I explained to them about the gospel of forgiveness.
"I was invited to almost every church in Nairobi where I gave my testimony. Later, schools began to invite me to talk about obedience and disobedience and their consequences. I have talked to students in 40 schools."
During these meetings, it dawned on him that most Kenyans do not know what to do with former prisoners. He also realised that there were large numbers of ex-prisoners who were in need of rehabilitation.
To the public, prisoners are enemies who should be arrested, prosecuted, taken to prison and locked up and the key thrown away. They forget that prisoners and ex-prisoners are their brothers and sisters, says Kihingu.
Our Government employs policemen, builds big prisons to accommodate the prisoners, buys guns for use by police, but they have not realised that this does not change the rate of crime in the country, he says. It is impossible to bring about change in prisons unless you change the prisoner and the way he thinks.
Based on his observations and experiences, Kihingu decided to launch a ministry that specifically addressed the needs of prisoners and ex-prisoners. In 1996, he formed the Ex-Prisoners Rehabilitation Society (EPRS), a not-for-profit organisation. Recently, he also started a home for ex-prisoners, the first of its kind in Kenya. He hopes that the home will receive ex-prisoners who have just been released from jail, give them hope in life by sharing with them the word of God, counselling them, assisting them materially and financially and helping them to settle back in society.
The rehabilitation society has about 1,500 members, most of them former prisoners. Recently, EPRS was given the greenlight to preach in prisons. The society has 10 part-time pastors ministering in 10 prisons countrywide. They offer Bible study lessons and counselling services besides follow-ups on released prisoners whom they help to re-integrate in society.
The pastors also sensitise the public on how to assist former prisoners to resettle in society. They encourage people to help such reformed prisoners to make ends meet by hiring their services for the trades they learnt in prison.
The greatest challenge faced by the EPRS is the attitude of the public. They view former prisoners with disdain and regard them as outcasts and rejects. They are not willing to believe that someone has reformed and may need help, Kihingu says. Are you part of the problem?
Kenyans should change their hostile attitudes and look at prisoners as patients needing treatment, he adds.
Despite such challenges, EPRS has helped to change the lives of many ex-prisoners. Some have become preachers while others have joined the jua kali sector and are gainfully employed. But if there is one lesson that Kihingu would like to send to the public, it is to change their perception of former prisoners.
Today, Kihingu is a married father of two.
