KIKUYU, Kenya — A women’s group located in the Ondiri area of Kikuyo plans to establish a carwash business for ex-convicts, according to the Kiambu News.
The idea of the new business is to help convicted felons stay engaged in the community and prevent them from partaking in further criminal activities, stated the article.
Violet Mburu, chairperson of the women’s group, said during a recent meeting at the Ondiri Pentecostal Church that most ex-convicts do not have jobs, are homeless and end up being neglected by the community, and even by their families, after serving their sentences, reported the article.
Mburu stated that the women’s group has identified 12 convicted felons in the area who “have been abandoned by their families and have now been isolated to live in the streets,” continued the article.
“These individuals have changed, but the community doesn’t give them chances to prove they are different people. Most of them may drift back to their previous lives of crime due to neglect by community members and their families,” said Mburu in the article.
Furthermore, noted Mburu in the article, many ex-convicts in the area cannot find jobs because of their criminal records and cannot secure the necessary funding to start their own businesses.
“We have been talking to these [ex-convicts], and because we see the determination they have for business, we are going to open for them a carwash business here in Ondiri,” stated Mburu in the article.
You can find the article here.