Author Topic: Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons  (Read 41106 times)

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Offline Anonymous

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Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons
« Reply #15 on: May 02, 2004, 05:23:00 PM »
Quote
On 2004-05-02 11:42:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Well, I agree that ISAC has good intentions, but do not feel they have taken a hard enough stand against the cottage industry of ed cons and independent referral services who are profiting from the lucrative business of "referring" (sic) kids into the greedy hands of the teen hurt industry.



Make no mistake, this is the #1 threat to every single pre-teen and adolescent in America. These folks are professional predators, IMO.  "


Excuse me, I should have said they have taken NO STAND.  

 :roll:
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons
« Reply #16 on: May 25, 2004, 07:44:00 AM »
I teach at Escuela Caribe, and I believe your hostility towards our school is unmerited.

In regards to the "guilt by association" argument, Escuela Caribe is not related to Teen Help or any other organization.  It is part of New Horizons Youth Ministries which runs our school here in the D.R., a campus in Merion, Indiana, and a summer academy in Ontario, Canada.  We do not pay people to refer students to us; word-of-mouth is sufficient to direct interested parents to us.

I think you also misunderstand the type of students that we have here.  These are not your typical well-adjusted (more or less) high school students.  These students have already rejected a relationship with their parents and are involved in highly destructive activities (e.g., gangs, drug use or distribution, suicide attempts, living on the streets).  Believe me, we want these kids to have a relationship with their family, and the "psychological disorientation" produced by "culture shock" is an important ingredient in helping the students to realize that they want to have a relationship with their family.  We try to keep the environment as non-institutional as possible: students live in "houses" with houseparents.  The key to success here is relationship and love.  These kids (and families) have already had therapy (although we do that too), and it hasn't worked. We believe that it is through loving relationships that these kids will change.  So we love them.

In recent years the moral situation in the D.R. has declined.  However, our campus is not located on the tourist coast (where prostitution is still illegal, but tolerated), but up in the more conservative mountains.  Students' interaction with the local culture is limited, but about once a month they will go on a service project, and once a week they might go into town for dinner or shopping.  Students do not have unsupervised time to go out partying.

Hope this helps address some of your concerns.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons
« Reply #17 on: May 25, 2004, 08:49:00 AM »
With all due respect, may we pleeeeeeease hear from a former student, perhaps even a graduate?  Testimonals whether they be from owners, parents, teachers, admissions reps, or as in the case of the Bethel Girls Academy, even a neighbor down the road, simply do not hold any water.  

As for the need to send kids to third world countries to shock them into appreciating "how good they had it at home", or as an integral part of a missionary style out-reach program, this is an argument that has been used ad nauseum by many programs such as yours.  

Raising a teenager is not a project that requires a "village" to complete.  Forcing them to love Jesus as the answer to "entitlementitis" or a drug addiction is not rehabilitation, is is indoctrination.

Let children come to find Jesus in their own way, and in their own time.  Chaining them to a program (no matter how "unrestrictive") is not true salvation, it is coercion.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons
« Reply #18 on: May 25, 2004, 02:47:00 PM »
I just came back from DR where I spent a week helping to build a new school for JCS (Jarabocoa Christian School)  I had the oppertunity to... 1. work with an Escuela Caribe administrator
2. Have a grande tour of the facility
3. hear testimonials of 4 senior students
4. work side by side for 3 hours with one particular student who was escorted to Escuela Caribe against his will.

1, 2 The administration is very professional. They are bright, caring and loving. Infact, one of the site admins was a past student. They follow all the rules of the US and Canada based programs so this facility could exist in the US.  The environmnet is safe secure but not a prison at all. If they run away, the folks in the town all help look for them and return them.
The rooms are all very clean, students are very well fed and appear healthy and clean. The classrooms are moders with a computer lab.  Yes they work hard on the site, and earn each level raises based on behavior, academic achievement, leadership and treatment of others. Yes they are taught about Christ, and many leave non-believers, and many do choose to follow Christ. A person sometimes needs to be broken, before they can commit to real and lasting change.

3.  I attended Church at Escuela Caribe and whitnessed the testamonies of 4 students who when on a local mission trip to another part of the island. There they administered medical aid, and fed and played with children who literlally live in a local garbage dump. These four students are changed. They belive in God, they see how thier behavior affected others, and themselves. They see the selfishness in thier lives, and clearly are better for thier experience. I think they have an excelent chance of staying on the right side.

4. When buildng the school (JCS) sever teens came over to help.  I worked with this teen for several hours.  He really was a hard worker.  We talked at legnth about how he was treated, what he had done to get there, how he has grown.  I was amazed how strong his resolve was to be good, and change is life.  He new his weaknes and is working hard to overcome it. I was very impresed and listened very objectively. I was looking for "programed answers" but I didn't get them.  I think I spoke to the real thing when we talked. I was skeptical but not now.  He was also grateful that his parents did it.

I think this school is an excelent facility for kids that are on the wrong path. They even work with the parents alot.  I think the saddest part is that so many parents let it get that bad where they had to go to this extream.  Sure some kids just go bad, but I feel that most of the time, it is preventable if the parents trained thier kids well. If I had the need, I would send my own child there.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons
« Reply #19 on: May 25, 2004, 03:15:00 PM »
Quote
On 2004-05-25 11:47:00, Anonymous wrote:

[snip]


The rooms are all very clean, students are very well fed and appear healthy and clean. The classrooms are moders with a computer lab.  Yes they work hard on the site, and earn each level raises based on behavior, academic achievement, leadership and treatment of others. Yes they are taught about Christ, and many leave non-believers, and many do choose to follow Christ. A person sometimes needs to be broken, before they can commit to real and lasting change.


[snip]



No, a person *never* "needs to be broken."

Not ever.

Breaking a person is the difference between conversion (to any religion) by voluntary persuasion and conversion by the sword.

The programs are the 12-step cult's radical fanatic fringe of conversion by the sword.

Any religion in the process of practicing conversion by the sword is an unlovely system.

Nobody "needs" to be broken.  Conversion by the sword is, always and everywhere, no matter what religion practices it, WRONG.

A religion is any deeply emotionally held belief system about the nature of existence and what each person should do about it.

Some religions have as one of their tenets of faith that they are not a religion.

I want every 14 year old to know that he *right now* has the legal right to refuse to leave the United States regardless of his parents wishes or who his parents have hired to "escort" them.

I want every airline flight attendant or cabin personnel, and every skipper and crew member of every ocean-worthy boat, and every border patrol employee, to know that any 14 year old US citizen has the right to refuse to leave the country, regardless of his parents wishes or who his parents have hired to escort him.

I want every airline flight attendant or cabin person, every skipper and border patrol person, every escort employee, to know that if they assist in moving a person over 14 across international boundaries against that person's consent that they *will* be prosecuted in federal court for violating that teen's fundamental civil rights (in the case of government employees) or kidnapping (in the case of skippers, pilots, flight attendants, and escorts).

And yes, since the law says the 14 year old has the right to refuse, *if* the 14 year old refuses to leave the country, the escort forcibly taking him across the border is at that moment committing kidnapping.

I'm not a lawyer, but I'd bet money the justice dept. could make those cases stick---and certainly the teen has a cause of civil action, and has two years after his 18th birthday before the statute of limitations runs out for bringing that suit.

(I'm not a lawyer, this is not specific legal advice.)
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline krs1713

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Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons
« Reply #20 on: May 31, 2004, 06:35:00 PM »
hi i was a student at escuela caribe for one year.all of this talk about abuse and tourture is a matter of opinion...i am a female now 21,when my parents sent me i was 16. i will not sugar coat the experiance and say that i had the time of my life.i went through some of the most trumantic and emotionally trying times of my life during my stay...but to be fair to the staff they have good intentions,not to say that i beleive they are going about it the right way.i honestly still have nightmares about my time there ....there was no random physical abuse or sexual abuse of any kind.but the punishments were physically painful and at times to severe.examples-excessive exersises forced to sit in push up possoition untill your muscles were unable to function although you say the military does the same...no i joined the army after i left the school....the army was a piece of cake. and then there were swats if your offense was say lying your houseparent would take you for a meeting with admin and they would decide how many times you would be swatted with a long leather strap across the butt and back of the legs extremely painful and were talking pure humiliation for a teen of my age of 16-17.the students jokingly called the strap mr.brown but it was no joke....other than that excessive cleaning and hard labor,some macheteing in rainstorms and lots of yelling it wasnt to bad..oh yes and when you really make them mad you go into the q.r. were you have a mattress to sleep on and a bucket to piss in and i had the honor of wearing a strait jacket all night not able to pee at night so you can guess what happened there.we were taught to respect authority or pay immediate consequences and because of the way  they did it i have a bigger authority problem now than when i went in.and i was more suicidal while i was there then i was before i went in but i grew up and i obey the law and appreciate my life and i didnt need teen spankings to do that.some times we just need to hit bottom before we go up and when i left there and screwed up my life even more thats when i grew up and i was not able to be forced to do that a minute sooner then i was ready to.So i mean no disrespect to the people at e.c. just the way they do things.and if you work there and are reading this you know everything i have said is true so please dont call me a liar cause you know it is.oh to defend the school we were allowed very little contact with the dominicans unless doing mission work so we were not further corupted by the culture in fact i think the d.r. is a beautiful place were i will plan to vacation as soon as i win the lotto :wave:
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons
« Reply #21 on: June 01, 2004, 12:10:00 PM »
You say abuse is a matter of opinion.  To some extent, that's true.  It's a matter of society's opinion.

When the US first got started, it was basically legal for parents to kill their own kids.

In majority Islamic countries, if a woman or girl is raped and a father or brother kills her to "restore family honor" he'll get either no punishment at all or a slap on the wrist---they don't view murdering rape victims to be abuse.

In US society, many, many of the things you described would be considered abuse.

For example, I don't know of any US state (maybe Utah?) where hitting their kid with a leather anything wouldn't put parents in *severe* danger of having their kid taken away by child protective services and them being prosecuted for child abuse.

Cult-type environments like the programs frequently have people leaving the group not consider what was done to them be abuse, even though by the larger society's norms it *clearly* was, because by *group* norms (in this case, the program's norms) it wasn't considered abuse.

It's called groupthink.  The program says it doesn't abuse you, but within the program, within the groupthink environment, it gets to define what "abuse" is-----until it collides with external reality when society finds out what the program's been doing to kids and has a cow.
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Offline Anonymous

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Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons
« Reply #22 on: June 01, 2004, 12:21:00 PM »
Is this program Escuela Caribe part of the New Horizons Youth Ministries?
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Offline Anonymous

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Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons
« Reply #23 on: June 01, 2004, 12:33:00 PM »
4. work side by side for 3 hours with one particular student who was escorted to Escuela Caribe against his will.

--------------------------

What's the name of the escort service that brought the so-called "unwilling" teen to this program that whips kids in the name of Jesus?
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Offline Anonymous

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Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons
« Reply #24 on: June 01, 2004, 10:20:00 PM »
Bump ...
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Offline Dre

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Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons
« Reply #25 on: September 22, 2004, 03:55:00 AM »
I was sent to the DR in 1990---stuck there for 2 years.  At the age of thirty, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and am finally getting the help I need---help I should have gotten fifteen years ago. I finally am realizing the abuse enacted on me and other students.
Any staff member who believes the program is not abusive is not "facing reality"---one of the many categories one was graded on daily.  If I had not already been neurotic before I got sent there--this place reinforced the negative thought processes.
There were a lot of caring staff there, but unfortunately they were not well-trained to deal with students with issues---often only a bachelor's degree if that. There were also mentally unstable staff who tortured students.
Housefathers were given God-like control over students. Some girls were sexually abused the year I was there...we were all emotionally abused. We were given repetitive physical "consequences" (pushups, squats, situps) until we could not mover.  I still have physical pain, years later.
my parents sent me there for my authority problem.  I was not the only dysfunctional person in my family.  
As a family we needed intensive counseling that we never received. My relationship with my parents is still compromised. I am still so angry about being sent there....though trying to work through it.
All contact was monitored---and we WERE locked up.  WE also had to be within a certain distance of the authority figure to move (arms length on zero, incremental distances as you move up th elevels.) We had to ask to step in and out of every room, and were supervised at all times.  It was extremely restrictive, humiliating and demoralizing.
Does this affect any one's opinion?
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Offline Dre

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Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons
« Reply #26 on: September 22, 2004, 04:01:00 AM »
Yes: Escual Caribe is part of NHYM.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #27 on: January 24, 2005, 08:01:00 AM »
I was held there for 15 months.  A lot of abuse, qand mind control.  It means so much to me to know there are people out there who realize that this is wrong.  For years, I felt no one cared and there was nothing I could do about what was done to me and nothing I could do to stop it from happening to others.  I am in therapy now to deal with PTSD from there and disasociative problems that have risen out of it though.

We were immersed in the Domincan culture, though.  We were in the mountains with very poor people.  We weren't around the rich party going tourists, much, except on vacation.  Then we stuck out like a sore thumb.  I did love the beauty of the country and the traditional Dominican culture.  That's one of the good things.
   I have very mixed feeelings that stem from there. It's been a journey.  It's been 14 years, but I think part of me is still there.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #28 on: January 24, 2005, 10:40:00 AM »
Oh dear God, bless your heart. I was there too, and understand.   I went through the same thing.  There was a documented case of sexual abouse when I was there.  It happened between a housefather and three girls in my house.  It is very rare, but it has happened. I will keep you in my prayers.  Just know there are others out there, and you are not alone.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #29 on: January 25, 2005, 10:45:00 PM »
I just came back from DR where I spent a week helping to build a new school for JCS (Jarabocoa Christian School) I had the oppertunity to... 1. work with an Escuela Caribe administrator
2. Have a grande tour of the facility
3. hear testimonials of 4 senior students
4. work side by side for 3 hours with one particular student who was escorted to Escuela Caribe against his will.

1, 2 The administration is very professional. They are bright, caring and loving. Infact, one of the site admins was a past student. They follow all the rules of the US and Canada based programs so this facility could exist in the US. The environmnet is safe secure but not a prison at all. If they run away, the folks in the town all help look for them and return them.
The rooms are all very clean, students are very well fed and appear healthy and clean. The classrooms are moders with a computer lab. Yes they work hard on the site, and earn each level raises based on behavior, academic achievement, leadership and treatment of others. Yes they are taught about Christ, and many leave non-believers, and many do choose to follow Christ. A person sometimes needs to be broken, before they can commit to real and lasting change.

3. I attended Church at Escuela Caribe and whitnessed the testamonies of 4 students who when on a local mission trip to another part of the island. There they administered medical aid, and fed and played with children who literlally live in a local garbage dump. These four students are changed. They belive in God, they see how thier behavior affected others, and themselves. They see the selfishness in thier lives, and clearly are better for thier experience. I think they have an excelent chance of staying on the right side.

4. When buildng the school (JCS) sever teens came over to help. I worked with this teen for several hours. He really was a hard worker. We talked at legnth about how he was treated, what he had done to get there, how he has grown. I was amazed how strong his resolve was to be good, and change is life. He new his weaknes and is working hard to overcome it. I was very impresed and listened very objectively. I was looking for "programed answers" but I didn't get them. I think I spoke to the real thing when we talked. I was skeptical but not now. He was also grateful that his parents did it.

I think this school is an excelent facility for kids that are on the wrong path. They even work with the parents alot. I think the saddest part is that so many parents let it get that bad where they had to go to this extream. Sure some kids just go bad, but I feel that most of the time, it is preventable if the parents trained thier kids well. If I had the need, I would send my own child there.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
wheres is your name????? :???:
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »