FINE!!! I'll bite! lol!
I lived at Durham from the ages of 7 to 11. Looking back, the only thing that for me was "off" was that we lived somewhat secluded from everyone else. However, we all went to school in town and I had several friends from school that I spent time with. Those of us kids living at, ahem, "The Mission" would play together alot, and I remember that we generally had a lot of freedom. I remember thinking, though, when I heard that they were doing their own school, that it was a big mistake. I don't know what year they started that, but I think it was after I came back from Brasil in '92. I've not heard stories of the same level of abuse that I've heard regarding other places, nor that I experienced at Via, but it is still NTM, regardless... The only memory I have regarding that is we once had a bus driver (all the kids from "The Mission" would be driven to school in a van by one of the students) that yelled at us pretty intensely when we were being loud. I don't remember his name, but I don't remember him driving us for very long, either.
I do know that currently, they (NTMC) are, uh, for lack of a better word, harbouring the Penners and the atmosphere around them (the Penners) is such that nothing ever happened. ...So I've heard...
I don't know that I as an 11 year old was very discerning about emotional/spiritual abuse, though, so... Sorry for the rambling (there, I just proved I was Canadian, in case you didn't believe me
). And yes, it is okay for me to mock my Canadian-ness, but no, it's not okay for you (if you're American) to. Don't ask me to explain, that's just the way it is!