MK forum

Thanks for comming back community_organizer. You obviously have alot going on in your head! It might be easier for us to understand what you are saying in its entiraty if you try to contain your comments into one post. Or try writting it in a word doccument then posted it here. (that is what I often do)I really wanted to hear you the other day but couldnt quite get all your posts together enough to fully understand what you were saying.

You have spoken thorny and I feel your pain. Your points are well taken. Perhaps you were born for such a time as this given your legal experience as long long as the end of the journey for you is healing and not more pain. There has been enough of that already, and you have experienced enough as well. Tell us why it hurts, it obviously does...we can imagine the why, but you have to find the words. If you need to talk send me a personal message and we can talk.

Well said, Ornerythornery--

I wish I could reach out across cyberspace and give you a really big hug right now, and tell you how proud I am of you. You are a victim too, and you've found the courage to speak the unspeakable. Thank you!

I want you to know I acknowledge your pain- how messy it can be- and I pray that God will bring healing to your heart (and your family's) as you've offered other victims something they have needed- a chance to not feel alone. You may not have been able to defend your sisters back then, but today, you've defended them well, not only your siblings, but your sisters in Christ!

Now (and this is for everyone), even though Frank Parker died, isn't the Mission - all things considered- still somehow responsible to "pick up the pieces" so to speak- to come alongside the victims and offer them counseling (with a counselor of the individual's choice, of course)?

Maybe that is what we should be addressing in this instance-- what can/should the Mission do to cover expenses related to the abuse that occurred? I hardly think that the $1 Million is going to go far---consider all the Fanda kids, and now Via kids, and all the other kids that have been abused at other schools. God knows I've needed counseling, and I wasn't one of the ones that was sexually abused!

Certainly, as well, there should be a more complete investigation done in regards to Frank Parker's abuse. I doubt very much if it was an isolated incident--(have even heard "whispers" otherwise!) What about the victims that exist that weren't identified prior to his removal from the dorm and dismissal from the Mission? And what about the fact that no communication was given to the students at the time, nor to any parents who had given their kids to be raised by this man and his wife?

And as dearly as I love Aunt Joan--what did she know? How long did this go on?

Weren't there any signs?? (I mean, besides the fact that he had his "favorite" girls and whenever we went on a "field trip" to Turtle Rock or down in the valley, it was always just HIM and us, no other adult, no Aunt Joan. My parents thought it was weird, when they came to pick us up, that we all slept in our clothes-fully clothed, dressed in the closet- because he would randomly walk in when we were changing). Looking back, it seems so obvious. Why wasn't it that obvious to the other adults around us? Why would they leave so much opportunity for abuse to happen. Didn't they know how vulnerable we were?

The whole thing makes me so ANGRY. We trusted them, loved them.

Did the abuse only involve girls in the Little Dorm, or were there other girls outside of the dorm affected? What about the boys?

Thanx for clearing that up Kair

I have mixed feelings about Via - I know I learned a lot there, but mostly I think through suffering, which does end up being the way we learn best. I think someone said something about walking on eggshells - that is a very good description of how my three years there went. I wasn´t sexually abused there and in terms of other abuse, there are things that happened that, as an adult, i can see were not handled correctly. While I was at Via a dorm parent was removed and I remembered my rage when they didn´t come clean with the "why". The rage was related to my own abuse suffered previously, but it also was indignation with the coverup. I´ve written to Grace and I received the response below from them and I´d like to pass it on to all of us.

As for possible manipulation (which was mentioned in someone´s post) - we are always manipulated by what we register around us. I don´t know if this works for everyone (although I suspect it does), but whenever I center down and spend a little bit of time reading from that letter God wrote us, its clear message reorientates the needle on my head compass back to pointing true North. Unfortunately, I don´t do that frequently enough. So with this whole thing with abuse, etc., I have felt those old fingers pointing at me again, judging me for talking...again But then, "speak the truth in love", says the letter, "as sheep among wolves, be as wise as serpents but as gentle as doves. Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly."

And with that in mind, I encourage everyone to write if they feel lead - don´t feel like you´re betraying. In the spirit of doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly, shining light on anything is good, illuminating the dark places - and if you were to find me in those dark places, doing something that hurt someone else, then I would want a chance to ask for forgiveness, and receive it, and be healed myself. Give the "perpetrators" a chance to do that too - and maybe many of them won´t - but we won´t know until we give them a chance. Forgiveness feels so good.

Now I´ll give up my soapbox, Thank you, Fanda MK´s and here´s the e-mail from GRACE below:

We are in receipt of you email. GRACE is in the process of making certain recommendations to NTM regarding what process should be used to investigate past abuse issues at other NTM boarding schools. We hope to have that to them within the next 10 days. We will communicate with you once such a process has been determined. In the meantime, please encourage others who may have been abused at Vianopolis to make contact with GRACE. Thank you very much for making contact. Be encouraged....

Peace


Boz Tchividjian, Esq.
Executive Director, GRACE
www.netgrace.org

It would seem to imply that the two jovens are in modular courses, not the onsite ones if i read that correctly.

For the record...and a clearer understanding of what is being said concerning the Goularts as stated above there are at least three words that describe different age groups in Portuguese from ages 1-30:

1. Jovem = (Young person) 18 to about 30 years of age

Adolescente = (Adolescent) 13 to 17 years of age

Crianca = (Child) 1 to 12 years of age

2. The names: Lecildo e Sirney appear to be male names.

But...as JerryB said: "I don't think that is really relevant"...

After following the Fanda Eagle’s blog for a while over a year ago, I began putting two and two together on certain issues that pertained to the East Brazil field…the fact that a pedophile was still with the mission bothered me immensely and made me extremely angry not to mention that we had been treated very harshly under that same leadership in the past for lesser offences…that to me was a double statndard…So, I wrote a letter to the East Brazil leadership letting them know how I felt (even though we were no longer with the mission)…Several days after that email was written the Goularts were dismissed from NTM of Brazil…but…there are still many unanswered questions like:

1. Why were the Goularts allowed to stay with NTM of Brazil when the US branch had cut ties with them in 2003 as official documents reveal because of this very issue?

2. Why did it take so long (six years!!!) for this communication to get from the US to Brazil concerning this issue???

3. Why was it that only after the “pressure was on” was something done about it??

With the above statements what I am trying to say is this: I have seen documentation that states that NTM of Brazil was going to inform the Goulart’s present mission of his past pedophilia…and in spite of the blunder and failure of NTM of Brazil to do what they should have done six years earlier and as the “pressure was on” they did indeed communicate something of the sort to Goularts present mission… What do I believe has happened is the group they are with has ignored the warning…

Ornerythornery, my advice is: Two Warnings are better than one. Go for it!!!