I was not born Amish. I was held in captivity by mother and stepfather until I was almost 19 years old. My stepfather forced my family to dress and live like the Amish. My sister and I escaped our abusive home by agreeing to join the Amish. Three years after joining the Amish I became the maid for the bishop's family and for the next 6 months, I was sexually abused by the bishop. I went against Amish church customs and reported him to the police but he escaped into Canada. In 2017 ( 12 years later) the bishop was finally sentenced to 10 years in prison for molesting almost all of his 11 children.

The bishop had brought his family back to the USA and in 2016 the three oldest daughters went to a neighbor lady for help. The neighbor called CPS and they called in law enforcement. The detective assigned to the case was reading my memoir at the time and when one of the children mentioned they had lived in Canada for awhile he figured out that the man he was investigating was the bishop from the book he was reading. I was put in contact with the children and their social worker. Eventually raising awareness did make a difference. The Social worker told me that my memoir helped her understand how to communicate with the children and gave her insight into Amish beliefs. The children told me that they were wavering on prosecuting their dad until they discovered my memoir. Sadly, our entire church had known what kind of man the bishop was but did not report him to the police. Going to the police is severely frowned upon among the Amish.

I wrote my memoir Tears of the Silenced (self published) to raise awareness about the need to report suspected child abuse and the difficulties I faced when reporting the Amish bishop. In the three years since I published Tears of the Silenced I have received emails from all over the world ( England, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Germany, Denmark and Holland). Most are from child abuse and sexual assault survivors and many grew up in very strict Christian churches. They are from both men and women and each story is heartbreaking. I try to answer each email and offer what comfort or help that I can. Most of them tell me I am the first person they have ever told their stories to.

I hope to encourage all abuse survivors to speak out and tell their stories. It is very painful to do so but it can raise awareness and possibly save others from being abused by the abuser(s). There is much awareness needed about sexual abuse in very conservative churches. Many victims are too scared to come forward because they fear being ostracised from the church. Also, child abuse is an issue that never gets enough attention. Somehow we need to encourage the general public to report suspected cases of child abuse. After I left the Amish many people from the town where I lived as a child apologized for not helping my sister and me. They told me that they knew we were being abused and wanted to call CPS many times but our religious garb threw them off and they did not know what to do.

I had a 2nd or 3rd-grade education when I left the Amish. Today, 13 years later, I am in the last year of nursing school and an author. (My memoir is self published but has sold approx 100,000 ebooks, has 2089 reviews and has been on the Amazon Kindle Store Top 100 list three times. ) I want to encourage all abuse victims to follow their dreams, do not let allow your abuser win. What they did to you was not your fault! I recently started a new subreddit r/BreakTheSilence for abuse survivors to tell their stories and support each other.

Proof https://twitter.com/ExAmish101/status/973288472357191680

My Amazon Author Page has pictures of me when I was 16 years old and still at home with my mother and stepfather. These pictures were taken so that social services would not come out and check up on us. My mother told them it was against our religion to have government officials in our house. They did not question her and took the pictures instead. Note how my stepfather is holding onto our arms in the third picture.

Hello everyone, thank you so much for all of your comments. Feel free to keep posting questions.

Comments: 1171 • Responses: 38  • Date: 

dwayne_the_roch850 karma

Do you have any friends left with the Amish? If so, what is your relationship with them? I was raised in the hutterites, and had to abandon my friends and family when I left. What is the Amish church's position towards people like yourself who escape?

SexualAbuseAwareness1351 karma

Pretty much like your situation. I am shunned and have no contact with anyone except my sister who still Amish. She is married and has three children. We write a few times a year but we do not really know each other anymore. I have not seen her for 12 years. I hope to go visit this fall. I am allowed to stay for the day but am not allowed to eat at the same table with her or any other church member. She is not allowed to touch me or take anything that I hand I hand her. Probably the same among the Hutterites.

dwayne_the_roch796 karma

Wow it's not quite that bad for me. I can visit, but can't stay overnight. Definitely take small gifts, even though I only visit once every 3 or 4 years (bottle of wine or chocolate or something). The worst part for me is having to listen to the speil from my parents about how disappointed they are, and how sad they are that I'm going to hell. Makes visiting really stressful so I almost never do.

SexualAbuseAwareness638 karma

The Amish probably have the strictest form of shunning. Glad you can visit. I have not been back and dread it but I want to see my sister.

dwayne_the_roch230 karma

I don't go because I like it lol. I go out of duty. Both parties hate it but it's a game we must play.

SexualAbuseAwareness179 karma

I totally understand :(

anders_andersen230 karma

Former Jehovah's Witnesses waving from that dark corner: many of us aren't even allowed to visit. Phone calls won't be answered. Some aren't even invited to the burial of their own parents....

God I hate abusive cults like the ones you and I left...

SexualAbuseAwareness102 karma

Yes, I have many former JW's who email me. A lot in common with the Amish when it comes to shunning, maybe even a little more severe in some aspects. Really sad and tears apart a lot of families. I was not allowed to attend my sister's wedding. Seemed so unnatural:(

myspamhere666 karma

I am curious, what do the Amish think of jews?

SexualAbuseAwareness1059 karma

So, this is a hard question to answer because the Amish are not well versed on other cultures. I never heard anyone talking about Jews other than in the context of the bible and I do not remember ever seeing any Jews in our area. Sorry I cannot be more helpful in this area.

JAK3CAL650 karma

Why are there photographs of you? Where I’m from, the Amish do not allow you to take their photo. I’m assuming this varies by sect but all of the ones near us do not allow this

SexualAbuseAwareness1318 karma

The photographs are from when I was living with my mother before I joined the Amish. We did not take photographs but the state was coming to check on us and my mother had given them a fake address, she was also afraid that if they found us we would be questioned and they would be in trouble. So they decided to take the photographs and give them to the caseworker. It worked, they never discovered that my mother had been giving them a fake address. She told them that it was against our religion to have government officials in our house. Whenever you inject religion into the equation it is easy to get away with things.

sleeping_in_time216 karma

I’m sorry you had a shitty caseworker. That should have been the first clue to hunt your family down.

Rocktamus1570 karma

My wife is a caseworker. She has 65+cases and she's supposed to see everyone at least bi-weekly. Caseworkers are underpaid and overworked and most recently 100's of caseworker jobs were cut. They are shit on daily so while I'm not making an excuse it's more of. That sounds about right as they don't have time to "hunt" people down.

Edit: Maths.

altiuscitiusfortius408 karma

My mother was a caseworker investigating child abuse on native reserves in Canada. Same situation, almost a hundred cases to keep track of, having to visit them a few times a month. Every person she met hated her for doing her job, trying to protect little kids. Everyone in the native community blamed her for taking away the kids, not the sexually abusive parents or uncles.

The stress killed her. When she started she was such a happy person. She transferred into that unit because she really wanted to help these kids. After a year she was on antidepressants and hated her life, but didn't stop because she knew it would just get worse for the kids if she left, how many kids would fall through the cracks while they spent a year filling her position. It was around year 5 where she had a heart attack and died while we were eating breakfast together one morning when I was in my first few years of university.

What I'm getting at is make sure your wife really focuses on self care and dealing with her stress any way she needs to. And make sure she knows when shes had enough and when to move on with her career.

SexualAbuseAwareness8 karma

I am so sorry about your mother. I hope to find a way to change the system.

SexualAbuseAwareness13 karma

It should have been but we do not know the caseworker's story either. They are overworked and probably have no way to see everyone they are supposed to. Probably the caseworker believed my mom, or at least wanted to, she was a very good liar :(

Islanduniverse26 karma

Why did they dress you in Amish clothes if they weren’t Amish?

SexualAbuseAwareness23 karma

It was supposedly a religious conversion. I think it was only a front so my mom and step-dad would be respected by those around us, but my sister and I were successfully brainwashed and believed we would go to hell if we wore any other clothes.

Mantisbog449 karma

How accurate is Weird Al's Ahmish Paradise?

SexualAbuseAwareness1028 karma

That is funny. I actually watch that video quite often. I think it is pretty accurate. Of course, it is silly and the costumes are ridiculous but the overall message is quite real. Many Amish are in competition over who can be the most humble, this leads to a lot of bickering and a lot of discontent.

mistermocha384 karma

Congratulations on your success! What do you think goes into the mentality of not-reporting-to-the-police? Outside of the failure to report such actions, were other members of your family/church/society/etc supportive of you speaking out?

SexualAbuseAwareness818 karma

Hello:) Thank you for this very important question. There is so much more to my story but it was not possible to put it all in that AMA. A little background. My step-grandmother and my mentally challenged aunt were also living at home with my mother and stepfather. They were severely abused. I went to the police first to try and get them removed from my mother's custody but the police were so hesitant to do anything because of the religious aspect. I asked the policeman to pull up my aunt's dress and look at the bruises on her legs but he told me that he could not because it would violate religious freedom (my mother dressed her in Amish clothes). I then asked for a female officer to be brought in to do it but they never did it. I was exasperated and went to the police 3 times. I could not get them to do anything. My grandmother died not long after and my aunt died about three years ago, about the same time my memoir was published.

It is too easy to hide behind religion. When I reported the Amish bishop I was met with much of the same attitude "We have to be careful not to infringe on religious freedoms" until he escaped into Canada. At that point, I believe they realized something was very wrong. I really love that our country has religious freedom but I think we need to be careful that religious freedom does not trap victims and make it impossible for them to get help.

By the time I had left the Amish I was numb and felt I had failed my aunt, my step-grandmother, and the bishop's children. I could not save any of them. I got pushback from every angle, the Amish, the police, adult protective services and of course my mother and step-father. I was the only one trying to help any of them. The only one helping me was a non-Amish lady. It was devastating. Nine years later I wrote my memoir in a last ditch effort to raise awareness. I barely expected anything to come of it but something was set in motion and now three years later the bishop is in prison, people from my hometown have read my book, I have found my long lost brother and I am helping people from all over the world through email.

I think our culture's mentality of "mind your own business" plays a big part into why child abuse cases are not reported. They think it is not their business and may even fear other people will remind them of that fact if they start to meddle. Also many believe that CPS will not do anything even if they call. There definitely needs to be a big overhauling of the CPS system.

I know in my case, the people who apologized to me and told me that they had known are truly some of the kindest people you could ever meet. It is not that they were bad people, today they are really good friends of mine :) I think they truly just did not know how to help. I hope that answered your question :)

I_lenny_face_you131 karma

That sounds like a very compassionate view on your part of those people who knew. Have you always been able to see you at that way or were you angry at them for a while?

SexualAbuseAwareness188 karma

I was angry for at least the first 10 minutes. I cried. But I could see the pain and guilt in their eyes and just could not be mad at them. Being mad at them would not accomplish anything.

Lutya14 karma

It sounds like you were raised in a very bad environment. What gave you the insight and courage to fight so strongly for yourself and fellow victims? I can’t imagine it was something you were raised to do.

SexualAbuseAwareness10 karma

Seeing others being hurt always ate at my conscious. I felt obligated to do something and often could not eat or sleep unless I did.

ohlookitsdd334 karma

First off, thanks for doing this AMA!

Did you ever hear or learn to speak "Pennsylvania Dutch" or "Mennonite German"?

SexualAbuseAwareness784 karma

Yes, I am/was fluent in the language. That was my main hurdle when I went to the community. My sister and I were told right from the start that we would have to be fairly fluent in the language before we could be baptized and start dating. Being teenagers our very lives depended on learning the language. If an Amish girl does not have a steady boyfriend by the time she is 20 she is pretty much destined to be an old maid. It took me about 9 months to learn the language. I did it by writing down 20 words a day and had the school aged children teach them to me. The children were amazing tutors and loved feeling important.

thecorndogmaker264 karma

What is dating like in the Amish community? Also, how was sexual education brought up and usually at what age? Thanks for this AMA!

SexualAbuseAwareness97 karma

I am from the very strict Amish. In my community, the only sex education that was given was by the mother or older sister on the day before a girls wedding. This I was told because they figured my sister and I were more accustomed to hearing conversations about sex. It is taboo unless you are married. Unmarried people are not even allowed to talk about pregnancies or acknowledge that someone is pregnant. Of course, at a certain age, you start figuring things out but you are not allowed to talk about any of it until you are married.

CorgiOrBread45 karma

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SexualAbuseAwareness33 karma

When they become teenagers they do. Somehow they know not to talk about it though. If someone does say something they are talked to by the mother or father. In my community, it was common for unmarried girls to avert their eyes so they were not looking at the pregnant lady's belly.

jatea30 karma

How often did you use Pennsylvania German vs English? Was there anyone in the community that didn't speak English at all?

SexualAbuseAwareness19 karma

Children learn English in school, most finish school at 13 or 14. After school, you are only allowed to speak English when you are talking to an outsider. English is considered worldly. I do not know of any community where they do not learn English, but it is not the main language.

forava7292 karma

what else can we do in order to raise awareness?

SexualAbuseAwareness322 karma

The best way to raise awareness is to talk about it and write about it on social media. Most change starts with people talking, forming groups and eventually making their voices so loud they cannot be ignored. Hopefully, that will happen one day. I am on the front lines trying to make that happen. For now, talking about it will start pulling back the veil of secrecy. Thank you for caring :)

Placentabandit223 karma

How much of the book is true? because memoir.

SexualAbuseAwareness486 karma

I have changed names, identifying characteristics, and some locations. Many of the worst abuse cases were left out. I concealed some identities to protect the innocent.

dalek_999198 karma

It sounds like you and your mom were not Amish until she married him? How did an English woman end up marrying an Amish man? How old were you at the time? Was it a major culture shock to live the Amish way when they first got married?

SexualAbuseAwareness464 karma

So, my story is complicated and very unusual. I was 4 years old when my mother met my step-father. Neither were Amish. When I was six years old my step-father decided we should start dressing like the Amish. It was a gradual transition. I think my stepfather thought that if we started dressing religiously no one would ask why my sister I were not in school, why we had no friends or why we were rarely seen in public etc. It worked. My stepfather was in his late 40s and had been wanted for child molestation about 15 years before my mother met him. He escaped arrest by fleeing to Alaska and working on the fishing boats for a few years. After that, he was a gold miner in Northern Arizona and that is where my mother met him.

By the time I was 9 years old we looked fully Amish. We had learned to sew the clothes and traveled around in a motorhome selling crafts that we made. My sister and I worked long hours. When I was 11 we moved to the ranch in Northern WA, my sister and I were only let off the mountain to help sell things or bring supplies back to the ranch. It was a nightmare that would not end until I was 19. When I finally did go to the Amish community It was not that hard for me to adjust because I had dressed Amish for most of my life and was badly abused. For the first month, it seemed like a breath of fresh air. My sister and I were accepted into the Amish because of our obedient natures. It would be very hard for the average person to join the Amish, very few have ever joined the Amish from the outside world.

Denise1268684 karma

Why did your mother get involved with your step father? And why didn’t you go to school ?

SexualAbuseAwareness9 karma

I am not sure what my mother saw in my stepfather. I was enrolled in school when I six or seven for a few weeks or months. The teacher started asking me questions because I would fall asleep at my desk and did not want to play during recess. I was given homework to do but did not know how to do it and no one helped me at home. I remember the teacher, she was such a kind, sweet, young lady and used to try and hug me a lot. Once during story time, she let me sit next to her and hugged me the whole time. She always made me feel so comfortable I would fall asleep. At home, I was often too scared to sleep.

She ended up calling a meeting with my mom and stepdad and demanded to know why none of my homework was done. My stepdad told me that he told her it was because I was stupid. That made me sad. Not long after she called another meeting, I do not know what they talked about but my stepdad was furious and I was pulled out of school. Not long after my stepdad moved our travel trailer way out into the Arizona desert. I am guessing the teacher was going to call CPS or might have already. After that, I was never enrolled in school again and our homeschooling was just done randomly.

Teachers should really get more recognition for the work they do. Even though my teacher was not able to save me, I know she tried and that she cared, that means a lot to me. I get a lot of emails from teachers who say they have had to call CPS several times and have spent many hours following up on cases to make sure something was done. I really think teachers are on the front lines and do so much more than they are recognized for.

RefriedJean158 karma

My great grandmother left the Amish community when she was 16. I wasn’t old enough to understand what that meant, and I wish I would have asked her about her experience coming into a non Amish society. I’m sure you’re experience is drastically different than hers was because we live in a completely different world. With that being said, I have a few questions I wish I could have asked her before she passed.

  1. What was it like to come into a modern world?
  2. Was it overwhelming to transition to this way of life?
  3. Are there any things that carried over from your Amish life to your non Amish life?
  4. Is it hard to break any biases that were ingrained in you when you were growing up?
  5. Do you ever fear that you made the wrong decision when you left the Amish community?
  6. How hard was it to leave everything including family, friends, and belongings?
  7. And finally, how hard was the decision?

Sorry for asking so many questions! These are questions I always wanted to ask, but never got the chance to.

SexualAbuseAwareness11 karma

I often describe leaving the Amish to being teleported from the 1600s to 2000s, it was very overwhelming for about 6 months. Things I carried over are cooking, doing crafts, I do not use swear words:) I am not sure if I have biases or what they are but most likely. I do not regret leaving the Amish, but like most Amish who leave I have had the recurring nightmare that I died and went to hell a few times.

It was extremely hard to leave the Amish. I did it once, but always say that if I had to do it a second time I could not do it. Some people leave and go back and leave and go back several times.

The decision to leave was extremely difficult. In fact, I did not decide to leave until after I had been to the police and the bishop told me to call off the investigation. In that moment I removed my head covering and stomped on it. This was the bishop of my church, he had assaulted me and now was telling me what to do for the sake of my soul? Something just clicked in that moment and I realized something was very wrong.

owlygal112 karma

What type of nursing are you interested in?

SexualAbuseAwareness284 karma

I am doing the bachelor's program right now and have a year left. After that, I plan to go on and get my Masters to become a Nurse Practitioner. Right now my favorite fields are ER and Psychiatric.

owlygal69 karma

Good luck in whatever you choose!!

SexualAbuseAwareness80 karma

Thank you!

Stonewall_Jaxon88 karma

Wow. This is absolutely incredible. I just wanted to ask, what are your religious beliefs now?

SexualAbuseAwareness310 karma

Thank you for the question :) I am still a devoted Christian but I am non-denominational. I will never agree to exclusively join any church ever again. I dress normally, I think :)

thecoon12784 karma

Hey Ms. Griffin, I can't imagine the strength you hold in your soul--its amazing! I am curious about a ton of things, and will be looking into your memoir, but am interested in what kind of PTSD you have experienced and how you've dealt with it? You said before faith is still a big part of it which, to me, is amazing that you've separated the predators from what they claimed to represent. Anyways, what has the mental health aspect of your recovery be like?

Also, as a social worker, what can be done at a societal (however micro the Amish society is) to encourage reporting of these incidents? I feel like that will end up being rhetorical, but is there any angle that's missing?

Thanks in advance!

SexualAbuseAwareness201 karma

For me, my faith has been my saving grace, literally. As a child, I always believed in God and always felt he had a purpose for me. No matter how bad things got there was always that little spark that kept me going.

As far as PTSD, at one point it was very severe. For about 2 years after I left the Amish I had a recurring nightmare almost every other night. I dreamt that I had not left the Amish, that it had only been a dream and I was still at the bishops house. I would scream and cry and wake up in terror. The nightmare was so real I had a hard time knowing which one was real. I would get up and walk around and touch things until I was convinced that I was in the reality. After about two years they came less often and now maybe only once a month or so. I also would jump and scream at loud noises or when people reached out to touch or hug me. I have gotten better and rarely have these reactions anymore.

As far as what we can do to encourage reporting..... I wish I knew. I think raising awareness is the only way. The Amish know that outside people do not know how the church works. Church members are told not to talk about church matters to outsiders. Only by shedding light on the darkness can we hope to change things.

Br56u782 karma

What were the best memories from you childhood?

SexualAbuseAwareness361 karma

Unfortunately, remembering my childhood makes me shudder, but, there are a few things that were positive. I think the best memories are being surrounded by the animals on the farm, my sister and I gave each one a name and we loved them all dearly.

Other good memories would be the times when I was able to sneak around and talk to my younger sister. For most of our lives, my sister and I were not allowed to talk to each other. If we were caught talking we were beaten. A lot of the times we had to raise our hands to talk. But sometimes we took chances when we thought my mom and stepdad were not around. I did not really learn to carry a conversation until I was 19 years old.

Probably the absolute most positive memory from my childhood is when I picked up a National Geographic in the late 1980s. I was around 8 years old. My stepdad was getting our car fixed and my sister and I were sitting in the waiting room. I picked up a National Geographic and it fell open to an article about some missionary doctors who were in Africa helping fight the AIDS epidemic. I did not understand what AIDS was at that time but it stayed with me for the rest of my life and it's why I am in nursing school today and why I joined YWAM ( Youth With A Mission) after I left the Amish. My entire childhood I dreamed of traveling to other countries helping sick people. I wish I could find a copy of that National Geographic.

molko12378 karma

Do you think your experience will make you a different parent than you expected to be?

SexualAbuseAwareness210 karma

I do not have children yet but I hope to. I think my experience makes me a little terrified of being mean to children and whenever I have babysat or taken care of children in the past I have a very hard time being firm when I should be. When I do become a parent I know this will be one my greatest challenges. I truly hate to see a child's sad face.

snertwith2ls53 karma

Do you think this sort of thing happens with any frequency in other Amish communities? And is the normal reaction to not involve any outside authorities and just resort to shunning? Is there any other procedure abuse victims can resort to? Also thank you for exposing this stuff, as depressing as it is, I think it's better to get it out in the open.

SexualAbuseAwareness143 karma

It is prelevant in most all Amish communities. The more liberal the community the more resources there are for victims but those resources are very limited and usually consist of some form of counseling for the victim and predator. In very rare cases, maybe less than a handful are the police ever called in by someone who is still a member of the church.

I know victims from the very most liberal to the very most strict and the same basic techniques run throughout. The mother usually reports that her husband or brother or someone is molesting her children or teenage daughters. She is told that the ministers will handle it. The predator is brought before the church and shunned for a few weeks. After he is brought back into the church no one is allowed to talk about his crime ever again because he has been forgiven. The predator may be reported 5 - 7 times. Eventually the victim or the mother of the victim will stop saying anything. It usually does not do any good and it often brings shame on the victim.

In my community, the bishops wife and her 7 sisters had been molested by her father. He had been reported to the ministers 5 times by their mother. Then, the bishops wife's mother and her eight sisters had been molested by her father. Almost all of the bishop's wife's 11 children were molested by her husband, the bishop. A heartbreaking tragedy. Approx 24 out of 32 people were molested, 75%.

Everybody-dance-now51 karma

Do you think it’s possible to have gender equality in an Amish family or is the culture to skewed towards patriarchy for that to be possible?

SexualAbuseAwareness204 karma

I do not think there is a way to have gender equality in a society where the wife is expected to do what she is told. Where unmarried girls are sexually assaulted and then blamed for it. Many sexual assault victims are blamed, they are told they wore their dress too tight, did not cover enough hair with their head coverings or were too friendly. This is why it took me so long to come forward and report the bishop. The only thing that gave me the strength to report him was the fear that he was molesting his children.

A culture where you have to accept the ruling of the bishop and can be shunned if you argue or do not agree to your punishment will never be able to have gender equality or even basic human rights.

This is not to talk bad about the Amish. There are so many Amish who want to change things but they are trapped. If they speak out they could be shunned and could lose everything. The Amish are brainwashed to believe that if they leave the Amish they will go to hell. Many feel helpless and feel they have no choice but to go along with the flow of things.

Everybody-dance-now76 karma

Thanks for speaking out. The Amish are so romanticized, you never hear about the dark stuff.

SexualAbuseAwareness90 karma

There are so many people who do not want to hear the dark stuff. Not many news outlets want to report on it and when it does make the news it seems to get buried :(

heybuggybug39 karma

Do you have any Amish recipes you would share with us?

SexualAbuseAwareness91 karma

Well, trying to think. I cannot think of particular full recipes at the moment but can tell you things I enjoyed eating and making :)

I really liked the cheese spread we made to put on bread, I liked Jello with cottage cheese on the top, homemade ice cream, homemade pickles, fried chicken, haystack suppers, fried potatoes with tomato gravy and apple pies..there are more things but I cannot think of them at the moment :)

StalinTheHedgehog33 karma

10 years in prison for molesting almost 11 children? What a joke.

SexualAbuseAwareness32 karma

Yes, we fear he will get out early for good behavior :(

ItchyParts16 karma

I've been to a Golden Corral restaurant at 5 different times in my life. Each time, there is at least two to three tables of about 8 to 10 Amish people eating. Every other restaurant I've ever been to in my life, I have never seen an Amish person eating. Why do is this? Also, is it appropriate to engage in conversation with them in public?

SexualAbuseAwareness14 karma

I am not sure why they were at Golden Corral. Maybe it was near a Greyhound bus stop? A lot of Amish travel to weddings etc. by bus. Amish generally do not eat in sit down restaurants.

I remember outsiders coming up to talk to us. It depends what you want to talk about. A lot of Amish people find the outside world fascinating, even if they would not admit it. The only times we really got annoyed was when people would start pestering us with questions or would try and take our pictures. I remember it made me feel like I was less of a human or unequal to them. I really hated when people would take pictures of me. I would be walking down the road with the children or walking to church with the young people and you could see people taking pictures as they drove by.

Classicone124-21 karma

[deleted]

SexualAbuseAwareness12 karma

Hello :) Well, everyone has different tastes. It just depends on what you like personally. I have a hard time getting interested in fiction but that is just me :) I like to read memoirs because some inspire, some inform and some make you happy because you know it really happened.