Anapolis, March, 2011
Dear *"Memories",
We have read what many have posted on the Vianopolis forum. It has taken us a while to process this, but we want you to know that we recognize that many of you suffered tremendous pain, and years of misery during your time at Via. As those currently responsible for the program at Via, we want to apologize humbly to you, from the bottom of our hearts. We want you to know that we grieve deeply for you, and we are seriously shocked, saddened and aghast at the amount of suffering that was a result of your having spent time at Via. This should never have happened to you and is not our purpose or desire for this school.
We realize that some of these experiences are only now beginning to be talked about as the memories come flooding in. How can we respond, and reach out to each of you who is hurting? What can we do to help alleviate your suffering and emotional pain? What can we do to help with the healing that you need at this time?
Plans are being made for a third party group to investigate the Via school. We have willingly made available the records that we have, in an effort to see the truth established about what took place at Vianópolis so many years ago.
We want to express to each one of you personally our apology, our indignation, and our grief for what you went through in a school that was meant for the care and education of MKs. Our desire is for each one to find healing. We hope you will accept this humble apology. We recognize that a letter like this is not the ideal way to express these things. We apologize for this as well, but we do want to express to you our heartfelt sorrow for all that you have suffered.
We want to express this to the parents and the former students who studied at the Vianopolis school between 1981 and 1994 but we are lacking a number of addresses. If you know of someone, maybe your brother, sister, parents or child, who should receive this and didn’t, if you have their contact information you can send it to us at: mntb@mntb.org.br
Sincerely,
the MNTB general and eastern field leadership teams
*I changed it to my Forum name, but they wrote to me using my real name. It was weird because they addressed me by my first and middle name which I only went by for a few months when I first got to Via and then switched to using just my first name since it was the same as my dorm mother's name at the time.
Here is how I will answer their questions:
Tell us the truth. I want to know why it didn't stop with ME. I want to know why the board didn't do anything back then. There are still way to many details that we don't know nor understand and to help some of us to heal, we need answers. Yes, it's been many years, but we would like to know how it was missed for so long and why things were dealt with or NOT dealt with even back when it all came out with Frank. We need a full disclosure report at the end this investigation. I believe we deserve the courtesy of knowing the results of this investigation. I do believe Via hasn't been a priority here because most of us who were abused at Via have long since left there. It's been over 20 years for me, but it's still a part of my life and something that I have carried with me all these years.
I do understand that NTM might not have fully comprehended the extent of abuse at Via. I think that you may be somewhat in shock over this forum developing and how widespread the abuse was at this school beyond Frank.
I also personally think that a retreat for each specific school would go a long ways to helping many who are still hurting and need to connect face to face, not just through a forum. Though the forum is healing and writing and sharing is healing, a touch, shared tears, hugs are so much more healing. People need to connect and know they aren't alone. They need validation.
In Christ Alone who is my Healer and Comforter,
Memories[b][/b]
|