MK forum

Oh, good grief.

Jan. 2013 was FOUR years ago of course!!

Total number of students who attended Tambo during the period of time investigated: over 1,000.

Total number of MKs interviewed by IHART: approximately 245.

That's less than 25%.

I wonder what the other 750+ students would have said about their time at Tambo.

And I wonder how hard IHART/NTM worked to try to find them.

And of the ones who were found, I wonder why some did not choose to speak with IHART investigators.

So many things I wonder about .....

A glimpse into some of the abhorrent child abuse that was reported to IHART, as disclosed in their report on Tambo:

pg 20 - "...some students complained that the medical care was inept, such as wrapping an arm injury in an elastic bandage when it was actually broken, or forcing students sick with malaria or hepatitis to participate in school events."

pg 23 - "The allegations for which the Team reached a finding by a preponderance of the evidence were as follows: 41 of physical abuse; 37 of emotional abuse; and 50 of sexual abuse."

Physical Abuse

pg 26 - "Allegations in the Bolivia field of physical abuse were primarily of corporal punishment.
Teachers and dorm parents at Tambo spanked frequently, and corporal punishment was considered to be the godly way of disciplining children.... Long paddles were often used, sometimes with holes drilled in them, and some staff swung these like baseball bats. Another implement was something like a leather horse harness. A belt and buckle was also common, and on occasion, children were hit with the buckle. Often, discipline was excessive."

"...most personnel approved of spanking and thought it was necessary for Biblical discipline. However, there was general acknowledgment that certain staff spanked hard. Allegations were made against some dorm parents for regularly and frequently giving vicious spankings that left marks, or for enjoying spanking children. Some adults appeared to believe that the spanking was not effective on a spiritual level unless the child cried. If the child would not cry or otherwise express repentance, it was seen as defiance, and the spanking could become too severe. Some spankings went well beyond a few swats, to 10, 15, or even more swats."

pg 27 - "In addition to regular spankings that may have been extreme in frequency or severity, certain MKs reported severe beatings that caused bruising or bleeding. One child stated he was beaten so hard he lost control of both bowel and bladder. Another said that his back was hit so hard that he collapsed, with a white flash and a feeling of being electrocuted, which caused his back to spasm."

"One child complained that he was literally lifted off the floor by his ears, which was agonizing, and caused ringing in his head and trouble with balance. Another child complained of being slapped repeatedly in the head with an open palm. One child complained of being smacked on the head with a textbook, which gave her ongoing headaches."

Something I find very distasteful is the way the Tambo report is packed full of repeated insistence that some MKs told IHART everything at Tambo was just hunky-dory!

One of my friends said, "To say that, indeed, some abuse occurred but not to everybody is like a police officer telling me that my house was burgled, but hey! Lots of other houses were untouched!"

Really, this was supposed to be an abuse investigation. It is not even appropriate to keep deflecting attention away from the pain, with your little burbles about how happy some MKs were in that terrible place.

pg 3 - "The definition of abuse has changed greatly from that time to this... I had many experiences that would be considered "abusive" today, but which I did not consider to be abusive at the time."

pg 6,7 - "A second community has had different and more positive experiences and memories... this community has expressed frustration at having its MK experience denied and marginalized as inauthentic, and having its more positive voice shut down in the MK groups. Many of those who are accused of abuse by the first community are seen as loving authority figures by the second community. Some in this second group flatly deny the allegations made against certain individuals,
and believe this is injustice and that the allegations are false."

pg 11 - "There were plenty of staff who, to this day, I have very fond memories of and who never contributed knowingly to any abuse that I’m aware of."

pg 14 - "But the situation was not all dark—MKs agree that there were also some great teachers and dorm parents, and that most students were well-prepared for their continuing education."

pg 18 - "Some teachers and dorm parents were gifted with children, were wonderful, and were well-loved by the children."

pg 19 - "I want to emphasize that I was not abused in any way. I did have some hard times, but even while there and feeling I was not understood or liked by staff, I have to tell you, there was much God was working in my life due to the hard times I was going through. I am deeply grateful to my time at Tambo because I believe it became the vehicle to my own personal journey to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior."

pg 20 - "The experience at Tambo was not uniformly bad. Some students had wonderful experiences at the school and with staff, and attribute many successes in life to lessons learned there. Some of
the staff were warm and loving."

pg 21 - "In fairness, the boarding school situation was always complex. Some MKs did well and really
enjoyed the environment. Others have mixed feelings, valuing the fun and enriching opportunities, but identifying inappropriate behaviors and sources of pain. For others, the experience was filled with torment. These different reactions were caused by a complicated mix of the individual temperament of the child and the particular adults who had the most impact on the child’s life. At times, in the histories told to IHART, different teachers and dorm parents are almost unrecognizable as the same person from one MK’s account to the next."

pg 29 - "MK perceptions of these environments vary greatly. Some MKs did not feel that the dorm life was emotionally abusive. Some teachers and dorm parents were kind..."

When I line these all up in one place like this, truly, the attempt to distract the reader from the stark reality of the rampant abuse of innocent children at Tambo is just nauseating.

I am NOT easily distracted!

Emotional Abuse

I am not meaning to minimize the wrongness of emotional abuse, or the deep, long-lasting effects of such abuse, but again I am struck by how much more information about emotional abuse IHART puts in their report (including bullying), as contrasted with sexual abuse. It is so obvious to me that Theresa did not want to call attention to the sexual abuse at Tambo.

pg 27,28 - "An example of the negative tone would be that they would tell a kid that they knew
they were up to something; they just couldn’t prove it yet, so “I can’t punish you yet.” This continual negativity and belittling of the kids drove the kids to giving up. If a kid is constantly being knocked down and made to feel worthless they start to believe it in themselves and stop trying."

Pg 28 - "Some MKs commented that the boarding school culture was a toxic one of spiritual shame."

"Some children with a slightly different Christian background were told they were heretics, or worse yet, other children were told not to associate with them. Some children were lectured and told they were going to hell for religious differences in their beliefs. Other children developed the belief that they could never be good enough for God. Some students felt that the spiritual atmosphere was “cult-like” in not allowing questioning, or shaming people who questioned spiritual teaching."

"Another MK complained that a male teacher would rage, saying that “if you didn’t remember the exact day, minute, and hour that Jesus entered your heart you would go straight to hell.” "

"One small boy was stripped and then diapered in front of other boys, because he had had a toileting accident. The boys were told, “This is what happens to you if you soil your pants like a baby.” Similarly, a female staff member made two students wear “mammoth flannel diapers and plastic pants,” because “bedwetters were lazy.” "

pg 29 - "One dorm parent would tell children they were hanging on a string over hell if they weren’t
dressed nicely, or if they didn’t pick up a gum wrapper. He would also shame bedwetters, make
public remarks to females about body odor, and speak harshly in the classroom."

"One painful point for several students was being falsely accused of lying. If a student was accused
of lying, the student experienced both social pressure and stigma. Some students complained that they received no apology when the accusation was proved to be false."

Culture of Bullying

pg 30 - "One of my freshman classmates was reportedly tied to a cactus in just his underwear and left in the desert for some time. He got back with some puncture wounds and I imagine traumatized."

"I got bullied all the time. I got pinned down by multiple guys for chesties regularly (Chesties are where you hit someone’s chest with the knuckle of your middle finger which after you get to 100 or so leaves a bruised area)."

pg 31 - "One practice was for bigger boys to sit on another boy and give “chesties,” pounding his chest
until he was bruised. Similar practices were: giving “pink bellies;” putting another student’s head
in the toilet (a “swirly”); or giving “conchacos,” where an older boy hit a smaller boy on the head with the knuckles."

"One student attended Tambo for the first time in high school. Other students bullied him. He injured a knee by dislocating it, and older students would corner him and squeeze the swollen knee, causing excruciating pain. One time, older students found him on the mesa at the air strip and made him walk back to school barefoot (dodging sharp rocks and cacti). On another occasion, his pet died, and students created a mock funeral."

Sexual Abuse

This is what the IHART report on Tambo says about sexual abuse:

pg 29 - "The allegations of sexual abuse fell into several categories:
- accounts of sexual abuse, by V/S or those who witnessed abuse
- accounts of people whom certain students avoided because they were “uncomfortable”
- accounts of inappropriate comments
- there were also accounts of children being sexually abused by tribal members, sometimes severely"

"In some cases, though fortunately not all, the sexual abuse appeared to have had a devastating effect on the MK’s later life."

"Most of the allegations were not within NTM’s knowledge at the time of the event, with some exceptions."

pg 30 - "One allegation was of sexual abuse that occurred within the family, as a father’s actions against a daughter."

"Some staff spoke inappropriately to students, such as using overly sexualized language when
interrogating two students who were dating."

"There were two or three allegations of a male staff member inappropriately kissing a teenage girl, at least one of which was corroborated. In one case, the girl severely informed the staff member that his action was inappropriate, and marched off, ending the problem."

"Two male AOs (at two different points in the school’s history) were credibly accused of molesting girls in various different ways, ranging from small girls to high school girls."

"Another male AO molested both girls and boys, and was dismissed when a complaint was made."

"Four of the male AOs were said to be molesting boys or making statements that would be verbal
sexual abuse. .... Some of the incidents were discovered at the time, and in those cases the person was dismissed from the mission."

"One female MK made multiple allegations of rape against perhaps a dozen staff. However, there
were significant contradictions in these allegations, the memories seemed to have been developed later in life, and DNA evidence positively disproved aspects of the story. Thus, IHART was not able to reach a preponderance of the evidence on these allegations."

"There were also other allegations of serious sexual abuse by another MK that the Team could not
substantiate to a preponderance."

"In two cases, young female staff members slept with high school boys. This became known and was dealt with at the time."

"There were also some allegations of sexual abuse by minors, some established and some not,
including some that were recovered memories."

Thanks for taking the time to put up these posts.

For me NTM will be the worst experience of my life, because it was an uncontrolled environment of violence, bullying, cheating, sexual perversion, theft, fanatisism and above all lying. How so many sadistic adults became dorm parents and school teachers is beyond comprehension. But then NTM is a cult and cults (good or bad) tend to attract extremists.
I remember three dorm parents telling me of the punishments they gave to other MKs. Why they were telling me was strange then and even stranger now, but the details they gave and the obvious perverse enjoyment they got from doing so summed up the strange cult that NTM had become.
NTM was a place of bullying, it was going on in the training schools and it was rife on the field we ended up on.

NTM has made a terrible mess of many lives, but it will go on deluding itself and it's fanatical followers. Some good folk will tumble out of it and a few will stay, but many will not question because it is not in their financial or emotional interest to do so and there are so many "good" folk to protect.

Breaking the sexual abuse allegations down a bit:

The allegations of sexual abuse at Tambo fell into several categories:

accounts of sexual abuse, by V/S or those who witnessed abuse

- a male staff member inappropriately kissing teenage girls

- two male AOs (at two different points in the school’s history) were credibly accused of molesting girls in various different ways, ranging from small girls to high school girls

- another male AO molested both girls and boys

- male AOs were said to be molesting boys

- one female MK made multiple allegations of rape against perhaps a dozen staff

- there were also other allegations of serious sexual abuse by another MK

- in two cases, young female staff members slept with high school boys

- there were also some allegations of sexual abuse by minors

accounts of people whom certain students avoided because they were “uncomfortable”

(no specifics given in the report)

accounts of inappropriate comments

- some staff spoke inappropriately to students, such as using overly sexualized language when
interrogating two students who were dating

- male AOs were said to be ... making statements that would be verbal sexual abuse

Read through the above list again.

Now read this, from pgs 23, 24 of the report, under the heading "Summary of Allegations and Findings by IHART":

"The Team received the following allegations: ... 75 of sexual abuse."

"The allegations for which the Team reached a finding by a preponderance of the evidence were
as follows: ... 50 of sexual abuse."

"The IHART Team found 31 individuals who had findings of fact to a preponderance of the evidence of some level of misconduct, ranging from boundary violations to abusive behavior to leadership culpability."

Stop. There were 75 allegations of sexual abuse, 50 of which were confirmed by IHART. And yet ... and yet, the things the IHART team found THIRTY-ONE people to have committed were "some level of misconduct", which ranged from boundary violations to abusive behavior to leadership culpability??

pg 24 - "All of the allegations of sexual abuse that involved touching, and for which there was a finding
by a preponderance of the evidence, were attributed to 13 AOs. Some were previously dismissed
and/or deceased."

All of the allegations of sexual abuse that involved touching?

Read the above list again!

IHART has reduced inappropriate kissing, male staff members who molested both boys and girls, young female staff members who had sexual relations with high school boys -- FIFTY confirmed reports of sexual abuse -- they have reduced all that to "sexual abuse that involved touching"???

I am apoplectic over this!!

There is absolutely NO WAY to see this report as accurately reflecting all the memories that were shared, with no doubt many tears and much pain on the part of the participating MKs, as they recounted the many, many cases of unmistakable, inexcusable sexual abuse of children/minors that occurred at NTM's school in Bolivia.

This report is deeply reabusive to the adult MKs who have already suffered so much.

We should not stand for it.

I hope that Tambo MKs will speak up here and tell us how this investigation and this report has affected them.

And on the subject of no names given ....

We have been around and around on this already, here on Fanda Eagles.

New Tribes Mission and IHART make the claim that it would be wrong for them to publicize names of the missionaries who hurt children. Not only wrong, but even illegal. Theresa now uses terms like "internal investigation" and even "employee investigation" as an excuse for why she did not include names of abusers in her report. How convenient. What happened to "independent investigation"?

New Tribes Mission, MK abuse survivors took you at your word when you said the abuse investigations were independent. Well, even the name of IHART - Independent Historical Abuse Review Team - started with the word independent! The MKs trusted you. They trusted IHART. They told their stories to interviewers. They named the names of their abusers. You know they did. They named their names because they wanted these abusers to be exposed and punished. The MKs were asking for validation, and validation would imply that NTM would stop protecting their missionaries who hurt children, and instead, start believing and helping the children, who were so innocent and vulnerable.

But no. Now, what many thought was an independent investigation is instead an internal investigation. An employee investigation. More legal dodging. More attorney-speak.

Absolutely wrong.