Trudy Simpson, Gleaner Writer

Lanre Olagoke and art for this past week's exhibition.

Cocaine, cannabis, gambling and partying led Lanre Olagoke to go from being a promising student to being homeless in the United Kingdom.

Olagoke hit the drugs and drinks hard, and at one point was sleeping at an airport and washing in a local swimming pool's shower room.

"People thought I was going crazy. I was taking a lot of drugs and gambling. I lost a lot of money - probably £15,000. The bills just got higher. It got to a point where I did not have a place to stay," he recalled.

It was a chance meeting with a childhood friend that changed his future.

His pal, a Christian, let Olagoke stay in his flat, prayed for him and invited him to church, Ruarch Ministries in Brixton, south London.

"They were calling people to give their lives to Christ. I didn't understand what that was, but I went anyway to the altar and said 'Yes'."

Preaching

Olagoke went back a few months later, wanting to meet women. But that day's sermon touched him.

"This guy was preaching 'no matter where you come from, even though you are homeless or on drugs.' It was as if he was talking to me. I started crying like a baby. I started going to church."

That netted him a security guard job. "But I still had my issues. I did not have a home," he said.

Olagoke appealed to Camden Council in north London and was soon sent to a hostel, nicknamed 'The Drugs Den' because of its tenants.

His life changed again.

One day I was in this place and I was saying, "God if you are real, how come all of us are in this place?" I was crying out and praying and this guy knocked on my door.

"He said he heard me praying. He said he had been in and out of prison for 21 years. He said, 'What do you do?' I said 'I am an artist' and he said, 'They need you in prison ... You are an artist, you can go and help other people'. And that is how the vision came to me.'

Successful

With government help, he created an art programme for prisons. That 'very successful exhibition' grew into a charity Olagoke now runs for prisoners and ex-offenders, the Art Alive Trust.

It nurtures positive change in prisoners and helps ex-offenders find their place in the community.

Olagoke said the Trust changed him. "Out there, I am the influence for them. I realised there is more in me than taking drugs and losing money. I realised I would have to stop this thing to progress and help somebody else."

Twelve years on, Olagoke, 46, is drug free, employed, a pastor in Ruarch Ministries and happily married with two children.

Art Alive has helped more than 5,000 inmates and ex-offenders learn skills such as furniture design, painting and ceramics. The Trust is currently hosting an art exhibition, titled Breaking Out, to showcase artwork from ex-offenders. It runs from September 17 to 22 at the Clapham North Art centre, south London.

"It's all to do with rehabilitation," Olagoke said. "We are saying through art, you can make a change. And once they come out of prison, there is a familiar face at the gate. You meet your past and your future at that gate, and werepresent their future."