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The Survivors2021-12-23T05:36:09+00:00

We would like to acknowledge and thank the brave survivors who opened up their lives to share their stories. Without them the documentary would not have been possible.

Mark – Institutional sexual abuse survivor

I would be sexually assaulted down in the bathroom and then sent back to the dormitory. We had a turret, a tower, in the building and I was taken up there on quite a few occasions and assaulted their sexually.

I still am in the process of restoration. Whether I, or anybody else, ever gets there I’ll never know. I don’t think we ever do. I’ll always have my memories, they’re always there.

Rachael – Childhood sexual abuse survivor

I was around five years old I think when the abuse kind of started happening for me when visiting a friend’s house. It happened on several occasions and I didn’t tell anyone.

I am basically blown away by what God has done in my life. I’ve been through a lot of pain and trauma, but I held on to God’s love and I kind of never gave up.

Deb – Childhood sexual abuse survivor

As a nine-year-old I was left at home alone during the school holidays and whilst I was home alone, a perpetrator came to the door and forced his way into the house, and I was sexually assaulted by him.

I wanted the miraculous healing, I wanted a turn-around anointing and that didn’t happen. But little by little, the way that I understood Jesus became more real to me, as I began to understand His nature and His willingness to come alongside me and say, “You’re on a journey and it’s not going to be easy but we are going to do it together.”

Leanne – Teenage sexual abuse survivor

I remember the back door was opening and probably about 6 or 7 other young men getting in the back seat of the car and I was taken down to the local show grounds and I was gang-raped.

My healing was a process that took time. It literally blew my mind that I had been living a certain way for 35 years and feeling ripped off living that way… to suddenly seeing that there was another plan and there was another way.

Sharmaine – Childhood sexual abuse survivor

I was six years old and this friend of my mother’s friend and what took place in that bedroom I never told anyone for forty years.

You go through a sexual awakening… way before your time. And I remember him saying… don’t tell anybody coz they’re not going to listen to you anyway… how does a six-year-old child understand what a man is doing?

‘Jocelyn’ – Childhood sexual abuse survivor

I was abused comprehensively I guess; physically tortured, emotionally abused, psychologically, sexually. It was quite a thorough, comprehensive abuse from a very early age.

Part of the healing process was in actually making a decision not to believe all of the decisions and things that I’d taken on at the time of abuse and then to allow or to invite Jesus into that space and to receive His truth. All the lies that they told me, everything that they spoke over me, all that whole sense of shame and lack of self-worth… all of that just diminishes in the face of the Presence of God.

‘Alan’ – Childhood sexual abuse survivor

I was raped at the age of three. That went on for some time. But on top of that I was also tortured and saw many terrible things which came to haunt me later in life.

I would say to a survivor not to keep it in – and just help facilitate that process of healing. That’s if they were a Christian, prayer and the faith-filled life obviously, but on top of that I would strongly suggest and urge to seek help so that they can see things that they are blind to.

Adrian – Childhood sexual abuse survivor

I remember isolated incidents and being abused in a variety of ways – emotionally, physically, sexually. I certainly have memories of being dunked in water by the head to the point where I was nearly drowning.

I wouldn’t say that I am 100% healed and free – I don’t think that’s possible this side of the grave. But I’m certainly a lot happier in my life. I’m free of the need to control. Free of the fear of basically of getting hurt.

Natasha – Childhood sexual abuse survivor

I was one of seven. I was the eldest daughter and I was sexually abused in my teens, a very emotional age.

I can acknowledge that moment when I felt wow, there’s something that needs to be conveyed here, a way that I need to deal with this and give life back by forgiving. I sat with someone that I really trusted, they were a facilitator and they actually helped me focus and I would sit there and they would just allow God to speak to me about the truth.