{"id":44480,"date":"2024-10-29T08:00:15","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T06:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/peoplespost\/reformed-gangsters-share-life-changing-stories-to-steer-cape-town-students-away-from-crime-20241029\/"},"modified":"2025-03-19T23:04:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T21:04:12","slug":"reformed-gangsters-share-life-changing-stories-to-steer-cape-town-students-away-from-crime-20241029","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/peoplespost\/reformed-gangsters-share-life-changing-stories-to-steer-cape-town-students-away-from-crime-20241029\/","title":{"rendered":"Reformed gangsters share life-changing stories to steer Cape Town students away from crime"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Reformed gangsters and ex-prisoners visited Cafda School of Skills to discourage students from joining gangs.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Through personal testimonies, they showed the harsh realities of crime and prison life.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The anti-gang initiative has been visiting schools across the Western Cape, with powerful stories of transformation.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Abakululi Better Life Choices School Ministry visited Cafda School of Skills on Wednesday 23 October to encourage learners to avoid a life of gangsterism and crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lead by Pastor Cecil Isaacs and his wife, Zelda who are both reformed gangsters and drug addicts, five former prisoners Bradley Joseph, Grant Adams, Johan Murtz, Charls Achard and Roger van Rooi shared their testimonies from how their lives lead to prison. With murder convictions, the numbers gang and life in prison, these five men found God and now use their ministry to discourage young children at risk from joining gangs and a life of crime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having done several schools in the Paarl area, this was one of the first in the Cape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Isaacs says they are invited by schools who feel they need this kind of intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div contenteditable=\"false\" data-embed24=\"Images\" data-pos=\"middle\" id=\"embed_573a5980\">\n<div class=\"slide\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-smallsrc=\"https:\/\/cdn.24.co.za\/files\/Cms\/General\/d\/12348\/50c335aecfad435a90907b51319fb2b1.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/peoplespost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0a2df1de1a834d998b294aa52a33faca.jpg\" title=\"Pastor Cecil Isaacs with Charls Achard who will be 71 years old.\"><p><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\">Pastor Cecil Isaacs with Charls Achard who will be 71 years old.<\/div>\n<div class=\"img_accreditation\"><span class=\"source\" style=\"display:none;\"><\/span><span class=\"photographer\" style=\"display:none;\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The offenders are from areas across the Cape, including Mitchells Plain, Retreat and Delft. To drive home the message, the men are lead in by a prison warden, wearing replica prison uniforms and chained at the ankles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have been doing this across the Western Cape now and because of the gangs, bullying, drug addiction and crime, there is a lot going on at schools,\u201d says Isaacs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is the breeding ground for gangsters. That is why we at the school prison ministry go into the schools with the message to tell them that crime doesn\u2019t pay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo we have these ex-offenders that come in and give them a testimony, and tell them that where they are on their way to, is not going to work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf it didn\u2019t work for us, it won\u2019t work for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Isaacs says they welcome invitations from more schools to help share this message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Call Isaacs on 079 928 2714 for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reformed gangsters and ex-prisoners visited Cafda School of Skills to discourage students from joining 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