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“BeOnsite is not looking at your past, it’s looking at
what, given the support, you can give in the future.”
Meurika Stewart
Meurika Stewart is determined to change her life. Having spent the last
three years in prison she wants to break away from a past of drugs and violence
and create a career and a life worth living.
She says: “Life wasn’t great, I was doing a lot of drugs and got into trouble.
But about a year ago I decided to turn my life around, I had had enough. I
didn’t believe in myself but I was always interested in construction and once I
had told the governors at the prison what I wanted to do, it took off from
there. They put me in touch with BeOnsite and here I am training as a dry liner,
about to start earning some money and in sight of a job”.
Meurika is one of six children and was brought up in care. In trouble since the
age of 15 when she walked out of school she fell into a life of drugs and ended
up in prison. Now at the age of 32 she wants to give something back to the
people who are helping her, regularly talking at schools about the implications
of taking drugs, the effect on young people lives and why they must take a
different route to the one she took.
She says: “Not a lot of people want to give you a chance but Bovis Lend Lease is
not looking at your past, it’s looking at what, given the support, you can give
in the future.”
Meurika gets up at 5.30am to travel across London for a full days training and
practical work. She is the only woman on her shift. She also attends a
multi-skills course at West Herts College and does voluntary work at schools and
colleges in her local area.
Meurika will begin to earn some money from January, half of which is saved on
her behalf for when she leaves HMP East Sutton Park in Kent in a year’s time.
And, the practical training she is currently undertaking with BeOnsite will
lead, upon her release, to a job. She is also hoping to continue acting as a
mentor for disadvantaged young people.
She says: “For me this is excellent. It’s all about choices. What you make of
your own life. If there is something out there for you go out there and grab it.
For me personally I now see a light at the end of the tunnel.” |
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