It was already half past one in the afternoon, but Chanpen Tongtim was still busy attending her lunch customers in a cafe in Silom. She served the hungry diners not only sandwiches and cups of coffee but also her sincere smile.
"I really couldn't believe my ears when I first learned Chanpen was once found guilty of murder," said Delifrance's assistant operation manager, Dome Siriwannalert, who three years ago offered Chanpen a job at the eatery.
Chanpen was, in fact, sentenced to death. It all began, she recalled, with a big argument with one of her friends, a human trafficker who lied to her about needing Chanpen's help to find a few girls to work as housekeepers. After Chanpen found out the truth, she attempted to ask her friend to release those poor girls. The quarrel led to a fight that unfortunately ended in homicide.
The culprit's penalty was reduced from death to life imprisonment and several years later, she was granted a royal pardon, leaving her only 14 years in jail.
At the age of 43, Chanpen was given her freedom back. But instead of feeling delighted, she conceded that at that time she had absolutely no idea where and how she could possibly start a new life.
"When I first learned I was allowed to leave prison, I was thinking 'Why are they releasing me now?' I was 43 then,and I wondered what I could do and how I could find a job," said Chanpen,who is now 46.
But with assistance from Dome and the Christian Prison Ministry Foundation,the lady was offered a job at Delifrance only a few days after being released.Since then, her responsibilities have grown to include looking after the cafe's customers, taking orders and preparing sandwiches and coffee as well as other dishes available on the menu.
The assistant operation manager first started hiring former prisoners to work at Delifrance in 2005. Back then, he said,the organisation underwent a considerable structural change and a number of staff were suddenly needed.
"I only had two days to find six or seven staff to work with us. Fortunately,I had a chance to discuss this issue with Ajarn Sunthorn [Sunthorn Sunthorntarawong, director of the Christian Prison Ministry Foundation]. The Christian Prison Ministry Foundation has been working with ex-prisoners for so many years and it turned out that Ajarn Sunthorn was happy to help me. He said he had always wanted to provide former prisoners opportunities to return and live new lives in society," Dome explained.
Eight people were sent to Delifrance by the Christian Prison Ministry Foundation in the first week. Some of them were assigned to the kitchen to prepare pastries, steaks and salads, while others became responsible for attending to diners at the cafe's front counter.
Prior to this, however, Dome invited staff members from the foundation to talk to all restaurant managers in order to make sure the former inmates had changed and that they were not going to become repeat offenders. To make sure, all of them underwent behavioural and emotional rehabilitation programmes before being unshackled.
And to Dome, it is indeed a win-win situation."We, as a restaurant operator,are happy that we have staff working for us.And the staff are also happy to have a job and earn a living."
According to Dome,most of the former convicts who work with Delifrance were put in jail due to their involvement with drugs. Nonetheless,once they are hired as the restaurant's temporary staff, they are entitled to receive 25 baht per hour and are required to work for no less than eight hours per day. In the case of full-time employees, they receive around 6,000 to 7,000 baht per month plus social security benefits.
While former prisoners elsewhere often encounter challenges upon release from prison, especially in terms of their reintegration into society, those who work at Delifrance on the other hand rarely become victims of discrimination,disdain or social prejudice. It seems as if no one is concerned about their past.
"Everyone here is treated equally,"Dome commented."We develop trust among each other and we do not care what each person has been through as long as they can work for us and do not cause any trouble."
"Some of my colleagues once asked me what charge I was found guilty of. I thought there was no need to lie so I told them the truth. They said they could not believe I was capable of killing somebody. And when they learned I had spent 14 years in jail, they said I had been in prison for so long that I must be like a kid who knows nothing about the world outside. That explains why everybody has always been willing to teach me everything I need to know," said Chanpen.
Although former inmates aren't treated with prejudice by their coworkers, it is inevitable that they sometimes feel inferior to others in terms of their personal, educational or social backgrounds. Some of them, Dome observed, are very worried that other people would find out that they had once been labelled as criminals.
"The only thing I can tell them is to not worry about things in the past.Passengers on the bus, people in the department store or customers in the restaurant will never know they were once prison inmates. So what they need to do is to be happy, smile to customers and enjoy their work."
Since 2005, almost 20 ex-prisoners have been recruited by Delifrance. However, at present only two of them remain.
The rest left after being offered better career opportunities.One now works for a leading supermarket chain as a cashier officer.Another now heads the fresh vegetables section of a supermarket while some are with various department stores. Many of them decided to pursue nonformal education.
As a project initiator,Dome is pleased to see these former prisoners grab the opportunity to start a new chapter in their lives. One of the things he has learned from helping these former criminals is not to judge people by their past, and their intention to change should in fact be used as an indicator to determine whether or not they deserve to be given a second chance.
"Just let bygones be bygones. Of course, everyone has done something wrong in the past. Ex-prisoners are also human beings, so I do not see any reason why they should not be given equal rights.Let's focus on today, not yesterday,"Dome said.
Though it has now been three years since Chanpen first started working with Delifrance, she can now still remember very well the day she was asked to fill out a job application form. From being a lady who lacked self-confidence, who did not even know which bus that she could catch to work and who returned home and cried after the first day at work, Chanpen is now one of the most respected senior staff at the restaurant.Her English communication skills have significantly improved to the level that she can take orders from foreign customers. In April last year, she was even awarded "Employee of the Month".
"If you ask me how I feel about what I did in the past, I would say I deeply regret it. It was something I never wanted to happen. But now, I have started my life anew. I have changed. To me, this is a wonderful new beginning."
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