Author Topic: Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons  (Read 49832 times)

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Offline DavidJHupp

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« Reply #60 on: March 22, 2005, 04:48:00 AM »
Quote
When I was there they told us that the townspeople would bring us back with a machete to our back because they would get good money!


We were told the bounty was a steak dinner.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline DavidJHupp

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Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons
« Reply #61 on: March 22, 2005, 05:07:00 AM »
...redacted
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Offline DavidJHupp

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« Reply #62 on: March 22, 2005, 06:10:00 AM »
Quote
On 2005-03-11 13:31:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Graham Higgs was married and had two kids.  he was in his mid 30's i believe.  not sure how it came out.  i'll look into it.

id check the yahoo group escuela caribe.  theres a few more ex students there, including myself.  im trying to contact some of the guys that were in his house at present.  "


I was in the House in question with both the perpetrator and the victim(s?), so I think I can provide a little more information.

Part of "group therapy" at EC was a basicly "fill in the bubble" sexual/abuse history/laundry list.  It covered everything from pornography to number of past partners to all fifty million ways to define sexual abuse.  This questionairre was administered maybe once or twice a year, so as to cover new students.

The victim apparently had marked "no" to one of the sexual abuse questions the first time he took the test, and marked "yes" the second time around months later.  This must have raised a red flag, because both house-parents mysteriously disappeared following their regularly scheduled time off.

It wasn't until a couple of months later that the whole mess was officially revealed to the other students in the house, including myself.  I had no prior knowledge, but I'm sure that some student had their suspicions.

Fortunately, Colleen Higgs, Graham's wife, who apparently was completely innocent/ignorant (and also my favorite staff member there) returned without her husband, reprising her role as housemother until the new housemother could begin her job.

Really nasty mess.
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Offline Dre

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« Reply #63 on: March 22, 2005, 11:35:00 PM »
Posted: 2005-03-08 20:12:00  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


While rereading this post...I figured out what you were asking.  

I don't know what LJ is...enlighten me.

I do know the Liz who you are referring to.  She rocks!  We were in TKB together.  We also are both from the South (minus the red state mentality).

Talk to me @ the other Escuela site on yahoo....My name is Deirdre.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #64 on: March 23, 2005, 01:23:00 AM »
This is the first time I am leaving a post in here. I am a former student of Escuela Caribe. I just now read this post, would like to reply. Im not comfortable with leaving my personal info, Im still having issues and I want to be honest without feeling pressured.

1, 2 The administration is very professional.

 They follow all the rules of the US and Canada based programs so this facility could exist in the US.

...With all due respect, it doesn't seem you can come to the conclusion about following all the rules by one day of helping them build something.
-----------------------------------------------
The environmnet is safe secure but not a prison at all.

...Do you realize we got locked in our rooms at night-all girls in one room (atleast thats how it was in our house). One time I got very sick and my fever was very high and I was hyperventilating. The girls were banging on the doors trying to wake up the houseparents but they couldn't hear us for a couple hours. Imagine if there was a fire.
------------------------------------------------
If they run away, the folks in the town all help look for them and return them.

...All those folks in town know about the reward when they return a runaway. To us,its a small amount of money. To them, its like hitting the lottery. They will return you at machete point. Why does it seem all of us former students know about the reward thing?
------------------------------------------------


The rooms are all very clean,

Um, how do you think they got so clean? It wasn't the staff. How is 10 hours of cleaning on our out-free day because we failed the very STRICT weekly house inspection?
------------------------------------------------

 students are very well fed and appear healthy and clean.

....I think anyone would appear healthy after months and months of constant hard labor. Not that hard labor ever killed anyone but this is a little extreme. I was on pushup support (I had to do 7 pushups to walk into each room. Of course we've all had to ask to walk into each room. But I counted up one day,I did approx. 400+ pushups per day.)
And about the clean part--how can you really tell if we are clean if we are out working? How clean can COLD water get you? Most of us werent allowed to use the hot water handle- thats only for high narkers--oops, high rankers. I took a cold shower for 2 years--we lived in the mountains so it is mountain water cold! And we only had 10 minutes to have your shower taken, be dressed, with your hair brushed, area cleaned up and be downstairs. So we stayed under that cold water approx 3 minutes PER DAY.
-----------------------------------------------
A person sometimes needs to be broken, before they can commit to real and lasting change.

...Have you ever been broken? We were broken before we even got there. And whose standard of "broken" do we need to meet? Is it fair to have 1 person in charge of "breaking us"?
(our housefather). What if our housefather is not psychologically sound? Where is the checks and balances here? I would like to know. You cant just sit quiet and try to do everything right, it doesnt work that way. If you forget to ask before you walk into each room multiple times, it will probably be labeled "rebellious" or "passive" and you will be punished. You dont even have to do anything on purpose, trust me. Now I sort of wish I would have, atleast I would be blamed for something I did intentionally. Even if one person in the house did something and nobody would fess up, we would all get into pushup position until someone fesses up. And guess what, most the time nobody did. So we were in pushup position until our bodies started shaking and we our bodies physically could not hold up anymore. Then we were instructed to turn around immediately and start doing situps until our tails were raw.
--------------------------------------------


 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 have been in his same shoes. I cant say that we dont learn alot about resolving our issues. But I am saying this experience was far too extreme for me. There are many "program answers" but you have to know what you are listening for. Things and expectations were shoved into our heads every day over and over and over. It would be easy to come up with the "right answers". It doesnt mean we contradicted them, we just didn't really have a choice and we were speaking their words, not our own. Not that the things they were teaching us were all bad but what good is it if we are responding out of fear and not our own will? I feel alot of the staff are very caring and good people. However, I have seen people write that they are not well trained to deal with cases such as ours. I have to agree. Many of the staff were just into their 20s. Nothing against them but some of them really didnt have background in dealing with cases such as ours, although many were very good. Other staff had some power trip going on and would pinpoint their "favorites" and then the ones they like to pick at. Or they were just flat out wierd. And then there is a lot of really nice, good, clean-hearted people.
-----------------------------------------------
I think this school is an excelent facility for kids that are on the wrong path. They even work with the parents alot.

It may be excellent for some kids, but definetly wasnt for me. I can thank Escuela Caribe for some things, but I cant even start to explain some of the others. It feels like it was all a dream. I kind of have a bad taste in my mouth but I know some of the staff really meant well and helped us.
------------------------------------------------

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.

...I really hate to say this, but there are alot of nuthead parents out there too who probably need the "program" more than their child.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline DavidJHupp

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« Reply #65 on: March 24, 2005, 12:32:00 AM »
Hey Anonymous, are you in the Yahoo! group?

About being sick...

One Tuesday morning (an "in" freeday), when I was supposed to work "Restitution" (more about that later), I puked on the floor next to my bed.  I had also puked the night before, but in the toilet.

So, what should a well trained staff member do?  My housefather promptly accused me of gagging myself, and claimed to have a high-ranker witness to gagging noises.  I was forced to go work after having puked twice and probably a fever, although my temperature was never taken.

After working (as much as I could while sick) for 10-15 minutes, Mr. Redwine showed up.  (I think that Mr. Redwine was probably the most understanding disciplinarian on campus.  I didn't deal with him too often, but he didn't seem sadistic/insane/bipolar like Mr. Grant.)  He did some talking (don't remember if it was with me, the supervisor, or both) and I was allowed to return to the house to rest.  I fell asleep fully clothed and slept like a rock until the late evening.  Kinda felt sorry for whatever probably low-ranker had to clean up my puke on the floor.

Over the next couple of weeks I had recurring diarrhea and abdominal pain.  Though showing clear symptoms of having giardiasis (giardia infection, probably from some contact with the local water.  see http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites ... iardia.htm ), my housefather continued to accuse me of faking being sick.  I still don't know if he was joking, but it didn't seem like it at the time.

By the way, to those of you who don't know, giardia is VERY common in the Dominican Republic.  Students are warned never to drink tap water; if a student gets a giardia infection, they will probably get accused of intentionally drinking the tap water.

Eventually the school's RN took me to a doctor in town, who was also given urine and bile samples.  Not surprisingly, I tested positive for giardia.  I was prescribed about three different medications.  My housefather still continued to give me flak about being sick, and I was treated exactly the same as though I were not.

------

Since I'm on the topic of bowel movements....

While I was at EC, and to some degree to the present day, I had a problem taking a "long" time when relieving myself.  Initially, I was just timed whenever I used the restroom.  Eventually, though, I was put on "bucket support".  I'm sure everyone who has been a student at EC, at least more recently, know what bucket support is.  If you don't, I'll enlighten you:

Bucket support means that whenever you have to use the restroom, you have to go in a bucket, then get a high-ranker to verify (would hate to be the high-ranker).  You then dump your waste and wash out the bucket.  I don't remember where I had to dump urine, whether it was outside or in the toilet, but I never had to dump feces (reason below).

At least at first, bucket support was only at the house.  To deal with this, when ever I had to go #2, I just held it until I went down to school.  That way, I only had to worry about going #1 in a bucket.

Somehow, somewhere down the line, Mr. Grant (head disciplinarian) caught on to my ruse.  I was informed of his change in policy (i.e. bucket support at school) though an off handed reference that didn't even really register in my mind.  So, when I relieved myself that morning immediately after arriving at school, I was promptly ushered to Mr. Grant's office for the usual swats (don't remember whether I got "Authority Problem" (6) or "Insubordination" (10)).

So I just held it.

For over 24 hours.

The next day, after school, I brought to the housemother's attention, through the proper protocol, my new medical issue: constipation.  She gave me some sort of laxative and the housefather allowed me to use the toilet.  Not surprisingly (maybe making up for lost time?), I took too long (or more like he didn't give me enough time), so I was back on bucket support.

I don't remember how the issue eventually diffused.  Maybe it was when I moved from Thomas House to Huyck House.

I think I was stuck on bucket support (at least one of the times) for an incident that wasn't even my fault.

One free day, we had "team showers".  Team showers, for those who don't know, mean that instead of each person having 10 minutes to shower and get dressed, or 12 minutes if they had to shave, the entire house has 30-35 minutes for everyone to do the same.  Everyone goes in by rank.  Because I was on zero level (though not THE low-ranker) I was last to be sent in (by the high-ranker) to take a shower.

I had like five minutes.

Hmmm.

So I was like a minute late.  So the house father stuck me on bucket support.  Again.  God, I hated that guy.

--------

Now to explain "Restitution" to anyone who doesn't know.

If you break something, you have to pay to replace it.  If you don't have the money, then you have to work on your freeday to earn money.

Makes sense.

Of course, everyone on zero level didn't earn any money for their daily work.  For every level, you earned progressively slightly less obscenely less than US minimum wage.

If you didn't earn a high enough score on your chores (i.e. if you had a bad day, or if you were just plain bad at cleaning), then you weren't paid for that either.

Also, everyone had to work a certain number of hours a week, regardless of whether they were paid or not.  Before going to bed, you had to ask the housefather how many hours you worked.  Note this is not really how many hours you worked, but really how many hours of work the housefather thinks you got done. There was little/no distinction for age, physical ability, or skill (not that any of the work needed ability or skill).

If you didn't accrue enough hours, or forgot to mark down your hours, then you were CHARGED for the amount of work you failed to do.  If you didn't have the money, then you had to work restitution.  I think the money went into the house slush fund (for freedays, etc.).

Working restitution had relatively very good pay: ten pesos an hour (~60 cents) instead of one peso an hour (~6 cents) for a first level student.  Having been on zero level except for two weeks of first level, for the entire 16 months I was there, I rarely had the luxury of being paid.  On the other hand, it was not really how many hours you worked, but really how many hours of work the supervisor thought you got done.

The day I was picked up by my father to leave the Program, my housefather at Huyck House reminded me that I owed over 1700 pesos (over $100, at the time) of outstanding restitution to Thomas House.  He suggested to me that I ask my father to write a check to them for the amount.  I smiled/nodded, while thinking YEAH RIGHT!  There was no way he could force me or my father to do anything, anyway.

-------

Throughout my description of Restitution, I have made various RD peso to US dollar conversions.  While at the program, students are never told the exchange rate.  Students who learn the exchange rate are STRICTLY FORBIDDEN from discussing the exchange rate or telling any other students about it.

Sounds fishy, doesn't it?  Why shouldn't we know how little the money we weren't being paid for our work was really worth?

--------

Darn, I wrote a lot.

Comments/corrections welcome.

Later,

David Hupp[ This Message was edited by: DavidJHupp on 2005-03-23 21:34 ]
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Offline Antigen

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Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons
« Reply #66 on: March 24, 2005, 06:53:00 PM »
Damn, thanks!

Most of the dialog that I know of about the industry seems to be stalled at the "I was abused" vs "I was there and never heard of abuse" level w/ both camps being thoroughly, often self rightiously, convinced of their position.

This is the kind of matter of fact, day in the life info we need to get out there. Never mind whether or not anyone views their own experience as wonderful, horrible or anything in between. Let's talk about what happens in these places and let the reader decide what's good, what's bad and what's not precisely as advertised.

More, please... anybody?

Not a place upon earth might be so happy as America. Her situation is remote from all the wrangling world, and she has nothing to do but to trade with them.
--Thomas Paine

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"Don\'t let the past remind us of what we are not now."
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Offline Antigen

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« Reply #67 on: March 25, 2005, 03:26:00 PM »
::bump::

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniencies attending too much
liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.

--Thomas Jefferson, 1791, in a letter to Archibald Stuart

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"Don\'t let the past remind us of what we are not now."
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Offline Nihilanthic

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« Reply #68 on: March 25, 2005, 09:27:00 PM »
Elmination control used as a means to break down children. Disgusting. Totally fucking disgusting.

Any policy that has Ted Byfield on the same side as many Rastafarians can fairly be said to have generated a consensus.
-- Ottawa Citizen August 28, 1997

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
DannyB on the internet:I CALLED A LAWYER TODAY TO SEE IF I COULD SUE YOUR ASSES FOR DOING THIS BUT THAT WAS NOT POSSIBLE.

CCMGirl on program restraints: "DON\'T TAZ ME BRO!!!!!"

TheWho on program survivors: "From where I sit I see all the anit-program[sic] people doing all the complaining and crying."

Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #69 on: March 26, 2005, 12:08:00 AM »
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More, please... anybody?


I finally took the time to organize my notes and type out my story about being at Spring Creek in Montana. I'm not lecturing about programs, just telling my experience as it was.

http://springcreeklodgeexperience.blogspot.com/
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Offline Antigen

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« Reply #70 on: March 26, 2005, 12:52:00 AM »
Amazing!

"?Nut to but? they?d tell us, no space was allowed in between kids, the front of your shoes had to be touching the back of the shoes of the kid in front of you when we stopped. If someone fell out of line, moved, or made a wise crack the Jr. Staff in charge of holding the line together, would take your points away, or the family father would. We spent countless hours standing out in the snow waiting for them to ?approve? of our line. "

Except for the snow, points (would be phases or responsabilities) and the family father, any Straightling could have written this. And I mean word for word!

You realize that Escula Caribe is not a WWASP school, right? It's actually one of the schools that some kids get sent to, their parents assured that it's nowhere near as bad as WWASP.

When I started as a federal narcotics agent, the budget that we were working with, it was less than $5 million a year, and there was only 125 agents for the entire world to work the narcotic trade that we were fighting in those days.  Times have changed.  The gluttony has grown.
--Nick Navarro, former Broward, FL Sherrif

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"Don\'t let the past remind us of what we are not now."
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Offline Deborah

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« Reply #71 on: March 26, 2005, 01:44:00 AM »
Thanks for taking the time to share an indepth account of your experience. I hope parents will find it when researching the facility.

You said:
The parents tell us how we can?t manipulate them into bringing us home, which means they don?t believe you anymore. This is their way of breaking your spirit. You can write letters home saying you?ll kill yourself, and many do, but to them this is just ?manipulating? and the program already has your parents ready for that one.

***Had the girl who committed suicide at SCL received such a letter?

In the hobbit breakfast was a bagel and a banana on a paper place. Dinner was a handful of lettuce and black beans. No utensils, a small dental hygiene size cup of water. The staff loved telling you Montana law only required them to give us two meals per day, and only one shower per 72 hours, which meant no shower the entire stay up there.

***So much for USDA guidelines for nutrition. Ironically, Montana does not regulate RTCs. There is talk of the need for such, but much effort is going toward 'self regulation'.
http://strugglingteens.com/news/montana ... 50319.html
In other words, change is unlikely if they have their way.
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... &forum=9&0
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gt;>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Hidden Lake Academy, after operating 12 years unlicensed will now be monitored by the state. Access information on the Federal Class Action lawsuit against HLA here: http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?t=17700

Offline Antigen

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« Reply #72 on: April 03, 2005, 03:45:00 AM »
::bump::

On the dogmas of religion, as distinguished from moral principles, all mankind, from the beginning of the world to this day, have been quarreling, fighting, burning and torturing one another for abstractions unintelligible to themselves and to all others, and absolutely beyond the comprehension of the human mind.
--Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President, author, scientist, architect, educator, and diplomat

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Offline BuzzKill

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« Reply #73 on: April 03, 2005, 11:22:00 AM »
This does indeed sound all to familiar.

The one comment made: sometimes you have to break then down to fix them ( I paraphrase) has long been the very point I have tried to make on Why theses programs are so predictably abusive and negligent.
This statement: sometimes you have to break then down to fix them; is true if you intend to brainwash them into a "fixed" state. And to Break them down, you must create a Lot of stress of every sort. To do this requires all kinds of abuse and negligence.
And this IS NOT OK.

Spring Creek Lodge Blogger: http://springcreeklodgeexperience.blogspot.com/
I would like to "chat" with you. I didn't see any form of contact info on your site. Please consider writing me. Email is in my profile.
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Offline Thomas

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« Reply #74 on: April 07, 2005, 04:11:00 AM »
we were paid about 4% of minimum wage, if my calculations are correct.  at least in my state.
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