Accounts from the jails, by Jamila Mohammed Kolo
Nothing is sweeter than the feeling of freedom. It is often taken for granted because it is intangible and we assume that it will always be there! It is like the very air we breathe! We become aware of it only when it is taken away from us. Nobody understands and treasures this emotion better than those whose freedom was snatched away violently and cruelly. Those who were locked up in jails forever or for a time. Those people are referred to as prisoners.
Every one of us is a potential prisoner. You don’t have to be a criminal to have your freedom taken away from you. There are all kinds of reasons man can find to lock up his fellow man like an animal in a zoo!
Do they deserve that deprivation? That is not the point of this write-up. This write-up is expected to make the reader experience the emotional upheavals and deep fears of those incarcerated in jails around the world. We want to document and share with the “outside” world, the experience of African prisoners in various prisons around the globe.
I have always been claustrophobic. I wonder how human beings survive the ordeal of being locked up with a bunch of other guys, in a small enclosure with little or no light…and oxygen! I don’t think I can ever survive the experience. Even the very thought of that sends shivers up my spine.
But people survive it. Some even thrive there.
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How do they do that? What stages of adaptation do they pass through?
I am curious to know. And that is why I decided to embark on this journey of discovery.
I want the world to remember that these people locked up in jails are human beings who still have all the emotions we have, dreams, aspirations and hopes!
My discussions with some prisoners have revealed to me a world which is much like our own here. A world full of good and bad guys. A world that requires that the inhabitants have social systems uniquely created for their environment.
Prisoners have the primal need to survive. This need is derived from our common emotions of hope! No matter how bad your present situation is, the majority of us still nurture hope. Hope that tomorrow would be better. Except for a few individuals who have suicidal tendencies, and who cannot hope, most of these prisoners simply live their lives one day at a time. How resilient is the human spirit!
They cultivate friendships, and even love in these hellish holes!
Come with me now, let’s open our hearts and minds and live through imagination, the experience of these people who have one of their most important human rights taken away from them – their freedom!
_Hajiya Jamila Kolo is a caterer based in Abuja._
