MK forum

HTS, I think you were talking about me. You know, it means something just knowing that you saw and remembered. Thank you.

I just joined this forum, after reading every page of it. I, too, went to Tambo, but it was before most of you that are here. When I first arrived, in the 1950's, it wasn't long before I felt the urge to avoid one of the staff men. Actually, I think he was the principal at the time. I was only 10 and like most kids at that age quite naive, but I felt an aversion to him the first time I met him. I worked at staying out of his way. It was several years later that I heard rumors he may have molested some of the girls, but it was only rumor - always hushed up. Only this year did I get confirmation that yes, he had molested several of the high school girls, and attempted to molest more; raping at least one of them. His family, and the family of the rape victim, all left Bolivia and never returned. He left NTM and went on to pastor a church back in the U.S. - and died several years ago. His wife is gone now also. He had 4 daughters and a son. I've lost track of all of them except one daughter who, with her husband, is in ministry with NTM. I have no idea if his children knew what he did.
I thought that was an isolated case - one bad man in the bunch. I graduated from Tambo 8 years later and never knew of any other such incidents. But now I wonder if it was going on and I just didn't know it!
Since this happened almost 60 years ago and the perpetrator is dead, there's no need to post his name; it would only bring pain to his family. But it shows that this has gone on much longer than any of us imagined.

Thanks for the account, it all adds to the developing picture of what was going on. The account that this sort of behaviour was going on in the 1950's puts the reports of abuse into a decade earlier than previously known, this is disturbing.
Given that NTM was only founded in 1942 and things would have moved slowly then due to there being a war on (little disagreement between a few countries) and the logistics of travel were much harder. By my calculation Tambo must have been in its very early stages of development. This would suggest a very long history of abuse going on.
PNG would have been similar, the abuse starting shortly after the first school was set up.

Which raises two questions, was this the pattern worldwide and if so, why did it happen. Were there abusers actively seeking out boarding schools to ply their crimes or did something happen to people because of the conditions they found themselves in and they became abusers?

Perfectly true, same story here. I thought I was the only one and that the rumours of strange things were going on were just that, mostly unsubstantiated rumours. Now with the dawn of the internet age and with Fanda Eagles as a great tool, we have the opportunity to speak out and maybe, just maybe right the wrongs of the past and stop the abuse of the next generation of MKs and others.
My story by itself is mildly interesting, but my story plus your story plus every other MKs story is a powerful force, which can no longer be denied, overlooked or filed in some office somewhere.

our story is from the '50 and early '60s

Yeah, the decade doesn't matter ... what is important is bringing to light a pattern of abuse that went on for decades (half a century!) at the boarding school. Like the others who have voiced it, I thought my few years at Tambo were just an anomaly with so many abusers. Instead, the way things were structured on a bigger picture made it an easy place for predators to target children. That's an issue larger than the individual abusers.

Yes...100%..Yes!

NTM cultivated controlled environments all over the world that were a predators paradise.

We have to wonder if that was why there are so many years of ongoing abuse......NTM cultivated and
allowed such things....and made sure they buried all the cases they could. For 50 years it seems.

I have thought about the family involved in my case if only for a moment....but... I was never considered when it came to the abuse. Family may say "but the abusers are old now"......I say....
"I was 7 yrs old, the world my oyster and he set the path in front of me with his abuse that made
the rest of MY LIFE an ongoing battle." While he lived his whole life without conscience.

There is also a duty to others who may have suffered at his hands. This is not just about me but others who need me to stand next to them in order to validate their histories. We all hold pieces of puzzle.....may not see the puzzle clearly until all the pieces,(as insignificant as they may seem) are all joined together.

THE MORE PIECES WE ADD...THE CLEARER THE PICTURE WILL BE......we need each other in this.

radioshack: Pure eloquence!
And pure truth.
Thank you.
10 Claps........