Path to prison can be broken

TV presenter Miriama Kamo is the face of an exhibition by Pillars, the charity that supports children of prisoners, at QEII Square. Picture / Dean Purcell

Miriama Kamo face of charity aimed at saving inmates’ kids from a similiar fate

Miriama Kamo learned before she was 10 years old that prisoners were "just people who have made mistakes".

Kamo, who presents TVNZ current affairs shows Sunday and Marae, attended church services most Sundays from the ages of about 8 to 13 inside Christchurch Women's Prison, where her mother, Mary Kamo, has been chaplain for 32 years.

Today she is fronting a fundraising campaign for the Pillars charity, which provides mentoring and support for the country's 20,000 children of prisoners.

Grant Robertson, seen as a Labour leadership contender, is one of five other Kiwis whose photos appear beside Kamo's in a novel quiz on the Pillars Facebook page to guess which two are the children of prisoners. His accountant father served 15 months in jail for stealing $120,000 from his employer in 199.

"We are trying to get people to examine their preconceived ideas about how we actually view the children of prisoners in our society and whether we put barriers up for them," said organiser Tracey Mouat.

Kamo, now 40, said she and her four siblings were "like soul food" for the prisoners.

"My little sister was just the most adorable child and I remember the women all just loved her," she said.

"I understood how our presence around them on a Sunday was like soul food, I guess."

She could not remember ever being scared of prisoners, even when the family went to Paparua men's prison where her father, Raynol Kamo, was also a chaplain for about four years before working as a youth justice co-ordinator.

"It really revealed to us that the people who are in prison are just people who have made mistakes.

"That's why I think it's so important to protect children, because these children of inmates are seven times more likely than their peers to go to prison themselves. That is really shocking and these kids don't deserve it. They didn't deserve to have a parent that went to prison. They are innocent."

Pillars founder Verna McFelin said the charity's mentoring programme broke that cycle.

"The evidence is that we have been running the programme for 22 years and we are seeing the next generation come through now and they are not in prison," she said.

"I can count on my hands the number of children who have come through our programme who have ended up in jail."

How to help
The Pillars charity for children of prisoners aims to raise $100,000 to employ a second Auckland mentoring co-ordinator. Supporters can give $3 by texting "Pillars" to 4266 or take part in the photo quiz outside Auckland's Britomart station today or inside the station tomorrow.
On the web
facebook.com/hashtag/breakingthebarrier