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Four years ago, some very courageous MKs from Senegal (the authentic, original Fanda Eagles!) confronted the New Tribes Mission-USA Executive Board in Sanford, FL about abuse they suffered as children in the NTM school at Fanda.
Thus began the journey that brings us to this place. The Senegal MKs were heard, validated, and did see some punitive actions taken toward those who abused them.
This brought hope to hundreds of other MKs who wanted and needed to add their voices to the long, obscene history of the abuse of children whose parents served in this mission all over the world. Other MKs who also wanted and needed to be heard, validated, and to see punitive actions taken toward those who abused them.
The forums on this website have become the platform used by these MKs and their families, supporters and friends to bring attention to the widespread abuse suffered for decades, which was denied, covered up, minimized, ignored and forgotten.
The abuse happened. It will not go away. It will not be erased.
NTM leaders said they cared. They said they shed tears and lost sleep over what had been done to innocent children in their venerable institution. They said they would do something about it.
IHART was created in April, 2011. Yes, it could be said that it was created by Pat Hendrix. But Pat Hendrix was hired by NTM, and she has been paid ever since, by NTM. Pat Hendrix may be piloting the plane, but NTM is fueling the tanks.
We watched in anticipation, as the plane took off. The destination was unknown, but there was supposed to be a destination. Many people awaited validation and justice, as they struggled to move forward in their process of healing from the traumas they endured as children.
Two years have passed. We can still see the plane. It is still flying. Or is it? Is there any forward movement, or is it just suspended overhead in mid-air, tantalizing us?
The IHART investigation of Vianopolis, Brazil has now been going on for two years. No results. The Tambo, Bolivia investigation has been going on for a year and a half. No results. The Panama investigation has been going on for close to a year and a half. No results.
The last IHART update from Pat Hendrix was posted over two months ago. On the NTM website. Pat has never given us the courtesy of communicating with us here on Fanda Eagles. She has got to have a sizeable data base of e-mail addresses for many of us who have written to her. I don't know about others, but she has never initiated any communication with me.
The last semi-official update from Brian Shortmeier which I received was written almost four months ago. Brian is the Director of Child Protection for NTM-USA. Brian sends out periodic updates through private e-mail, to a group of people who have requested to be kept informed. I don't believe he has ever come on this forum and addressed us publicly.
There have been some significant changes in the structure of the team of NTM members working on MK abuse issues. An extremely key person has left that team. A new member has been added. Nothing has been communicated officially about these changes. We are left in the dark, with our ear to the grapevine, trying to sort out what's going on.
Through personal correspondence, I hear things like this: We hear that people think we are stalling. We too are frustrated at the pace of the IHART investigations. But there is nothing we can do about it. We don't run the investigations. We just pay the bills.
And pay the bills they do! I cannot even imagine the hundred of thousands of dollars that have now left the coffers of NTM, related to MK abuse. To pay Pat Hendrix's salary and all other expenses for all the people on the three different IHART investigative teams. I don't know how many of those people are getting paid. I am certain the Pii group working on Panama is not providing their expertise for free. There have been countless plane trips for many people, including overseas flights. Lodging costs, food costs, other travel expenses. Then add all the money being paid out to counselors and therapists who are trying to help MKs pick up the pieces of their shattered childhoods (for this help from NTM we are very grateful). And what about all the billable hours being racked up by the lawyers who are fighting the two lawsuits that are still ongoing (one for almost two years!)? And then there is the money disbursed for the lawsuit that was settled. And the other mediation payments made to several other MKs. God only knows how much all this has cost NTM, financially. When I think of the original source of all this money - the pennies from children's Sunday School offerings, the tithes from widows' Social Security checks, the carefully budgeted missions funds of hundreds of churches - I feel sick about it.
Why are we stalled out? Who is it that has stopped caring? Is it those of us who have come and gone here at Fanda Eagles? The 300 people who have posted over the years, most of whom have gone quiet, and apparently drifted away? Is it the silent readers, who hit this site at an astounding rate, but never add their voices to the demand for justice? Is it the thousands of NTM missionaries, who may or may not know that terrible atrocities occurred in their mission, and may or may not care that the survivors of those atrocities carry their pain like a heavy cloak, day after day as they make their way through an exhausting life? Is it the leaders of NTM, who know far more than they want to admit, have pushed that knowledge deep into the back closets of their minds, and are smilingly pushing forward in their grand plans for expanding their organization? Is it Pat Hendrix, who collects her paycheck and directs her investigative troops from her home in Indiana, stringing us along for one more month, one more year, one more decade?
I can't decide who this joke is being played on, exactly.
But I'm not laughing.
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