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Torah
About Me
- Torah Bontrager
- New York, NY, United States
- I graduated from Columbia University in 2007, and now I'm writing a book about my escape from the Amish when I was 15. This includes my experiences pre- and post-escape. One of my friends suggested that I keep a blog during the writing process. I won't respond to any comments while I'm writing (except press/media-related inquiries), no matter how tempting. Otherwise, the book will never get written. Please know, however, that I read and appreciate each email I receive and that you might find an answer to some of your questions via this blog.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
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3 comments:
Are you still looking to find someone to publish your book? Just a suggestion, The Wooster Book Company is a small independent bookstore and book publisher. They're amazing people, and this might interest them, I have no clue, but they're in the heart of Amish country in Ohio.
They're a small but good company. You can google them to get details, although their website hasn't been updated in ages!
I'm so grateful to Torah for starting this page. I was very moved by the account of this gutsy woman's escape when I ran accross it last year, and am glad she is continuing on her mission to build a bridge to Amish women and children in their isolation. Part of that work is educating those of us "on the outside" to the need for this bridge.
I have lived near two different Amish communities, and due to my work in the medical field, had an unusual amount of contact with them. I was always struck by what I saw as positive characteristics of the community: the children all seemed amazingly self-confident and mature, there was a deep sense of community, a sense that freedom was about more than doing whatever I want whenever I want, a certain mindfulness about things. Yet I knew they had problems too. I cared for a woman who suffered from psychosis, stemming at least in part from the horrific amount of sexual abuse she had experienced in her family as a child. My conversations with several other Amish women suggested that such levels of abuse were shockingly common. Yet whenever I say that this seems to be a problem in Amish communities, people get mad at me for saying it. They want their picture book Amish fantasy. I respect the Amish, but the idealization of them does more harm than good. Like all human communities, they have their problems. And because of the nature of their separation from the rest of society, and some of their cultural mores, the people who are suffering and abused are particularly unlikely to get help. Yes, abuse happens everywhere, but while our society as a whole is getting better at getting help to those that need it, this population remains unreached. Torah, tell us what we can do to help.
I also just want to comment on how amazingly gracious Torah's replies are to those who "correct" her on her knowledge of the culture she grew up in (see the older posts on the Amish language and on the freedom of young Amish to leave the community).
Faith
That's what I was thinking about... aren't you allowed to leave the community at 16, and given 2 years to decide whether you want to remain Amish or not? When you use the word "escape" you infer that you are held against your will, like you are being held prisoner. That is not my understanding of the Amish culture. However, if you are a victim of child abuse, in any of its forms, then that would be different. I could see why you would want to "escape" from that.
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