New Horizons Youth Ministries and its ilk
The reform school I attended was located in the Dominican Republic, but it's part of a corporation headquartered in Marion, Indiana. Although "New Horizons Youth Ministries" classifies itself as a nonprofit, it is in fact a multi-million dollar business, according to Guidestar.org.
It's a simple and lucrative equation: 1. Get frustrated parents to pay $3,000+ a month to send their kids to a boarding school on a 3rd world island where they can't run away. 2. Cram students into bunk beds with 10 per dormitory. 3. Hire young, untrained staff for missionary wages. 4. Hold teenagers incommunicado at the school for several years at time. Et le viola, dineron.
Oh, and the added benefit of being overseas? The school falls outside the purview of the U.S. government. That means no oversight/regulation of academics, housing, staff or child welfare.
To read about some alumni experiences that didn't reflect the "full brochure experience," please check out:
The Truth About New Horizons
It's a simple and lucrative equation: 1. Get frustrated parents to pay $3,000+ a month to send their kids to a boarding school on a 3rd world island where they can't run away. 2. Cram students into bunk beds with 10 per dormitory. 3. Hire young, untrained staff for missionary wages. 4. Hold teenagers incommunicado at the school for several years at time. Et le viola, dineron.
Oh, and the added benefit of being overseas? The school falls outside the purview of the U.S. government. That means no oversight/regulation of academics, housing, staff or child welfare.
To read about some alumni experiences that didn't reflect the "full brochure experience," please check out:
The Truth About New Horizons
10 Comments:
Julia,
I got your book for Chritsmas, and just finished it. Thank you for sharing your story. I was looking for an uplifting book to read, and my husband said read it, this is supposed to be great. Of course, I was really saddened by your story. However after looking through your website, and reading a bit more about you and reading other comments, I do realize that beyond the sadness, is this great story about your love for your brother and how this relationship was the thing that seemed to have helped you both through your ordeals.
I do hope you to continue to explore and expose these (what I consider) HORRIBLE religios organizations that abuse children in the name of god. As a basicaly non-religious person, I just find this concept more than insane.
I do have a question though. It seems in most occassions where a childhood has been very hard, and yet the kid comes through and turns out OK, it is often because there is one person that gets them through. Often it is an adult, a teacher, or a freind's parent. I wonder if there was ever an adult that you felt you could turn to as a child, or was it just David that pulled you through?
Anyway, thanks for sharing your story. Your writing is fantastic and I look forward to another book from you!
J.
wow - looks like I should have spell-checked my note - sorry! J.
Hi J,
To answer your question...there really weren't any adults that I felt I could turn to as a child. (I was also painfully shy and never approached any). I believe it was my very close relationship with David, of course, as well as my two older sisters that helped me get through those years. That and the belief that if I could just reach my 18th birthday and be in control of my own life, things would get better. And they have!
Julia
I loved your book, I just finished it and I sent you a little love note indicating that. I had very tough parents like yours without the Jesus thing. Weekends were always really hard for me and my siblings because there was no school and our father was home. I used to dream about what my life would be like when I turned eighteen. Well I left home two days after my eighteenth birthday and I never looked back and still at 43 there are some Sundays when I remember and I take time to be thankful that I have my own life now. Your brother David is lucky to have had such a good and caring sister.
Hi Julia! I wrote you before, telling you that I had one sister in the DR ('00-'01) and one that just got sprung from Marion. The education they received was SO substandard! My sister in Marion basically was self-taught - she had no teachers, just basically "studied" all day. What a joke.
Anyway, I wanted to know...has NHYM had any (official or otherwise) response to your book? Or the Alumni website? Just wondering how they've handled all the unflattering (but TRUE) publicity.
Here's what I'd LOVE to see: the parents be sent to DR (because no doubt they haven't been perfect either). Parents must do casistas, all the "level" requirements, clean on their hands & knees for hours, be demeaned and humiliated, cut grass with a machete, etc. For a year. That's what I ask NHYM to do...if they're gonna "reform" the kids, then they must also "reform" the parents. The childrens' behavior problems were not created in a vacuum.
Hi - Congrats to your sister. I'm sure she's happy to be out of there.
Tell her to join the alumni yahoo group we started:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Escuela_Caribe/
where she can talk about her experiences with sympathetic former students.
And yes, it'd be great to put bad parents through "The Program" and see how they respond.
Fascinating book -
I keep reading and wondering about it. Was Jerome accurately described or is he an allegory for something? If it was accurate, have you been in therapy for childhood sexual abuse?
Did you ever reconcile with your parents?
Julia,
I just read your book - in two days because I could not put it down - and I wanted to tell you that I absolutely loved it.
I grew up in Kokomo, IN and I have family in Lafayette. I now live halfway between Kokomo and Marion and I was surprised to learn that NHYM is based in Marion.
What I loved most about your book was your description of life in rural Indiana. So many people do not understand that even though IN is considered a "northern" state, it is as full of rednecks as any state below the Mason-Dixon line. You and I are approximately the same age and while growing up, the only word I ever heard used for black people was "the N word". Racism is alive and well in the Hoosier state, to be sure. It does not exist in MY home, however.
"Jesus Land" is a wonderful, insightful book, and I have recommended it to everyone I know. I'm sure my copy will be out on loan for quite some time.
What did your parents think of the book? I do not think you have anything to do with them. But do they know about the book? Have your parents ever been diciplined for abusing you and your siblings?
Hello Julia,
As an adolecsent, I was, also, too shy and afraid to speak with adults. I had no adult to help me. The day after I graduated from high school I left home. I put myself through college more than once. I've had a fulfilling, interesting and varied life. Thirty years later I am grateful that I had the strenth to leave and live my own -much less abusive-life. Your book touched me very much.
Thank you.
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