MONIKA NUTZ928 254 674

Between the ages of 17 and 27, Charles spent half of these years in prison. To finance his drug addiction, he broke into houses and stole from family, friends, and people on the street. One day, during his last imprisonment, he prayed to God in the restroom, the only place where he found privacy. Charles was desperate and begged God, "Help me! I can't stand my life anymore." When he was released, he avoided meeting his drug friends and worked voluntarily in a church. There he met Angela, founder of the Butterfly Art Project, whose mission is supporting children's healing from trauma through art. She sensed great potential in Charles, not only because of his creativity, which he had expressed in drawings and street graffiti until then. Angela enabled him to receive education in her project in a township in Cape Town, and after that, Charles has taught various forms of art to children there. I was impressed by his kind strictness, and he said that children growing up in an unsteady environment, as he did, need structure and discipline. He loves giving back to the community in this way. It took Charles quite some time to regain the trust of family, friends, and the community, but now they see him as something of a paragon because of his way out of criminality.