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
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
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LifestyleTranscript
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.