I HAVE BEEN FORTUNATE NOT TO FALL INTO THE CLUTCHES OF THIS SLAVE TRADER
A woman who recently defected from the Church of Scientology has
claimed that she was held against her will and forced to spend almost
12 years touring the Caribbean on a cruise ship owned by the
organisation.
Valeska Paris told a TV interviewer that she was 18 when she joined
the crew of the Freewinds, a vessel the Church describes as its
floating “cathedral” and which once hosted Tom Cruise’s birthday
party. She alleged that her passport was confiscated, and that, until
she was 24, she was prevented from setting foot on dry land without an
escort.
The claims were aired by ABC news in Australia, where she currently
lives. They have been strongly denied by the Church, who say Ms Paris
boarded the ship of her own free will and was perfectly free to leave.
Her troubled relationship with the organisation spans three continents
and several decades. Born in Switzerland, to parents who were both
involved in Scientology, she moved to the UK at the age of six, and
spent her formative years at the Church’s headquarters in Sussex.
After turning 14, Ms Paris graduated from the organisation’s youth
wing, the “Cadet Org” to its senior volunteer wing, the “Sea Org”. She
signed a contract agreeing to remain a member for the ensuing period
of no less than one billion years. Trouble began, she now claims, when
her mother defected from Scientology in 1995, and began denouncing it
on French television. Ms Paris says church elders then ordered her to
“disconnect” from her parent.
A year later, when she was 18, Ms Paris joined the crew of the
Freewinds. “I was sent to the ship for two weeks,” she told ABC,
adding that for a salary of $50 a week, she was often required to work
long shifts in the vessel’s engine room.
“It’s hot, it’s extremely loud, it’s smelly, it’s not nice,” she said.
“I was sent down there at first for 48 hours straight on almost no
sleep and I had to work by myself… I did not want to be there, I
made it clear I did not want to be there.”
— I FOR ONE BELIEVE THIS LADY..
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/cruise-from-hell-i-was-trapp…
Pamela Ida