Ex-convicts Virginia Kalondu and Martin Mzera wed in Kenya’s first prison wedding

Virginia Kalondu who has served her time in three different prisons got married to the love of her life Martin Mzera who also served jail time for involvement in gang robbery.

According to Nation, this was the first prison wedding between ex-convicts to take place in Kenya.

The wedding ceremony was officiated by a Korean priest and attended by prison warders and members of the Korean community who organised the wedding.

The two lovebirds met during a world youth camp sponsored by the International Youth Programme.

“I was volunteering in one of their programmes and that is when I met Virginia and we started having conversations about our pasts and I liked her back in 2017. We officiated the relationship in September last year,” the groom told the media during the event.

“When I met him, at the back of my mind I did not think that anyone would have loved me, especially with the knowledge of my past crimes but he did,” his newly wedded wife added.

Kalondu explained that she chose the prison as a venue because having been locked up for seven years, it felt like home.

Kalondu was sentenced to the Kirigiti girls’ juvenile jail after being caught in possession of marijuana, which she was addicted to, as well as another sentence for attempted murder.

After completing her secondary school, she was freed in 2017.

“I have been in prison for seven years. I was admitted to the juvenile prison when I was young. After finishing high school, I was to be taken to the Lang’ata women’s prison but the judge had mercy on me and I was released on that day,” she explained.

On his part, Mzera was locked up at Kingorani prison in Mombasa after finishing high school, having been found guilty of robbery.

“When I was presented in court, the judge was lenient with me and I was given one year to serve in jail, where I first interacted with the Mind Education team, who continued to support me even after I was released from prison,” he told the media.