What lead up to going into prison started with a broken home.  I was adopted  because my mother committed adultery and got pregnant from her sister’s husband.  In shame, she hid the pregnancy and after I was born, quickly put me up for adoption.  I was picked up by a French Father and a Samoan Mother We then moved from Wellington to Auckland.

 I grew up in Auckland for 16 years until my adopted parents decided to divorce over promiscuity.  They also decided to tell me that I was adopted.  This shattered my world and everything I knew. I felt that I had been lied to by the people I trusted.  I could not confront this fact and  was devastated for weeks.  Not wanting to talk to anyone, confined  to my room, I became was overwhelmed with the feelings of betrayal and anguish.  My mother moved out and left the country within a week.

Soon after, I took to drugs drugs and was involved in criminal activities. My father kicked me out.  I couldn’t afford to pay rent or my school fees and was too young to get a job.  I had to survive so I started stealing things, then robbing houses, cars, factories, shopping malls, supermarkets, retail stores, everything.  Even casinos.

After 5 years, I got to a point where I was involved in smuggling weapons from South Korea into Nigeria, counterfeiting passports, currency and credit cards.Eventually I got caught and was arrested and thrown into jail, interrogated and sent back out into the field with a wire tap to get incriminating evidence for the police on the weapons smuggling ring.  I went to see the African warlord who was my boss and he luckily had left the country. I would have been dead if he knew I was wearing a wire, but the police made me do it with threats of life imprisonment . I was sent back to prison until my court hearing date drew closer.  I went to court and some other inmates taught me how to escape jail terms.  I used this method in the court room based on the laws and a loop hole in the system. I was released and put on probation.  I had to check into the police office once a week and see a correctional officer. It was just a check in to make sure I didn’t leave the country for the term that I was sentenced for.

One of my friends wanted to murder the people who told the police about me and many of my other friends were already in jail for murder. I realized that they didn’t really care about the consequences as I would be the one who would get linked to them and then I would end up in jail anyway. So I decided not to trust anyone.  I moved to a different part of the city and left everyone I knew and everything I owned. Cars, houses, furniture, girlfriend, everything.

I tried to start afresh. I didn’t know anyone, I didn’t have a job, no education, no parents or family. I didn’t event know who my real parents were and I didn’t know who I was. I spent many days trying to figure out who I really am.  I followed my instincts for the first time. My instincts led me to meeting some very good, spiritual and friendly people who kept me out of trouble. I eventually came across a place that offered me a course on Personal values and integrity.  It was cheap so I took it and also it was the only chance to learn something about life for real.

As part of the course I had to do a confessional type action and list out all the crimes I had committed as the theory was that if i got all the crimes off, there would be a relief of burden.  I did this and then I felt better and better.  It wasn’t easy and there was a little bit of “kicking and screaming” but I managed to push through it.  After 2 weeks I had written a ream full of paper worth of 5 years of crimes that I had never been caught for.  It felt amazing to get them out. It felt like I was being honest to myself.

I was offered to work as a volunteer there.They were willing to provide all my courses free of charge.  I saw this as a great opportunity and agreed instantly. They realized that 95% of all my crimes were still at large.  So they said that they couldn’t take me unless I came clean with the law. So I went to the police station with someone from the community center and we sat in front of a senior Sargent.  He was shocked to see the list of crimes. He couldn’t make a decision as there was a lot of paper work, so I had to come back later.

I worked with the community church that was helping me and they told me to stay busy and keep my mind occupied.  A week later, I tried to call the police to find out what was happening and they told me that they had sent my files over to the city. I contacted the city police station and they told me they couldn’t find the records.  I rang back to the other station and they said they were logged out and there wasn’t anything they could do. The other station kept saying they didn’t receive them. I went back and fourth for 2 weeks until both stations asked me to stop calling and that there was nothing either one of them could do.

I realized this was actually a sign of good karma.  I couldn’t believe my luck!

I went back to the church and decided to give back to society in order to balance out my wrongdoings. I couldn’t believe it. But it was true. So,I called the police again and told them that I was willing to enroll myself in community service. The police said, “Okay. Just pick a place and then count your hours!  When you feel like you have done enough, let me know.” I did so. I went to the church that was helping me with the courses and I volunteered with them for twelve months straight, five days a week. They trained me in every kind of social reform skill, counselling, drug rehab and criminal rehab.  I was running literacy programs in prisons, schools, mentoring, and many many lectures .After  volunteering,  I began to love the idea of giving back to the community.After the completion of my term of service, I walked up to the Sargent and I sat down with him and told him about the community service, listing out all my projects. He looked at me and then at the document I was holding.  then he looked at me again and just stared at me. I guess he had realized that I was genuine.  He then pulled out the New Zealand Police Letterhead and wrote, “We, the New Zealand police will not press charges against any crime Andrew Gason has committed from this date back.” He then  signed it, stamped it and  gave it to me.  He shook my hand and said, ” Well done, your persistence paid off. You made it my friend!

My life changed permanently. I was heading for lifetime in prison and now I was forgiven for everything. Since that day,I have dedicated my entire life to help others come out of poverty and hardship. I have been working in the community for  sixteen years and have helped thousands of youth and workers. I continue to enhance my skills and to inspire people who think life cant change for the better.