It seems likely that a teen school was established here in about 1986 or 1987 but the precise time may not much matter. Another large "combo" had been established by Faithy in Japan some time in about 1984. I suspect there was a considerable cross fertilisation of ideas between the two. The 'Jumbo Story' has been written but only parts 4 and 5 have been produced and they do not deal with the way the children were treated. Although I raise an eyebrow at this omission, it does not appear to me to be sinister in the context of the whole case. Some features of life as practised in the Jumbo, even if not started in the Jumbo have been widely followed. One of them is the Demerit system of which both JG and SD spoke. I have some literature about it. There is a Family Special News by Sara Davidito on 'The Demerit System - finding the balance' written in July 1987. She had been reading the childcare reports from a new combo and the reference to Marianne suggests it must be the Philippines combo. Sara wrote that the demerit system was actually instituted in her home for teen training programmes for ages 10-14 and the matter was apparently discussed in a series on teen training which draw on material which had been used in the various teen training camps around the world. The children were grouped by age, the 4-6 year olds and 7-12 year olds. A list of offences earning a demerit were specified ranging from no talking during quiet times to a double demerit for murmuring, complaining or criticising. 7 demerits resulted in disciplinary action (a spanking or being deprived of parent time). Sara referred to sharing the children's daily reports and the teens' open heart reactions. She started scheme to encourage teens to dictate a personal reaction tape every 2 weeks, or when needed, confessing any trials or questions about their working relationships with overseers and peers. This was what had been required of MB. Sara made the concession that:-
"Many of the teens and older kids had not been dealt with properly through the years due to many mistakes and the fact that they were our 'experimental generation".
Sara also acknowledged that there was an element of 'public humiliation for getting so many demerits'. There was indeed! It placed a heavy burden upon the children.
Maria wrote in commendably sensitive terms:-
"The danger is, we can turn out perfectly behaved children who are really quite screwed up because of the way they have been treated and raised. Our ultimate goal is not to have perfect children, but well adjusted children and by well adjusted we mean loving, caring, feeling confident of the Lord's love and of our love, mature in the spirit and loving the Lord and his Word and having faith in the Lord. But so much depends on how they are treated and raised, especially from a young age. Having too strict and too many rules may result in submission, but not out of the right motivation."
That valuable advice may not have been fully practiced. JG who felt that he was sent to the Jumbo as a punishment for wishing to play his guitar, considered that his time at the Jumbo was a time "trying to put me in a mould - they looked at it as training to be leaders for the End Time."
It would seem that Open Heart Reports were being used daily. In the "Jumbo Story No. 5," it was written - not specifically with children in mind - that OHR's were "a very good way for the leadership to stay intimately involved with the different situations and personnel in the camp". Some of the teens soon learned how to play the system. JG realised that to reveal doubts in the OHR's to the shepherds was permissible activity which was treated with prayers whereas revealing the same doubts to his peers was murmuring and was punished with long talks, written reactions, silence restriction or corporal punishment.
Another feature of the Jumbo was the use of silence restrictions. SPM said that this was begun in the teen home in the Philippines in about 1987/1988 and some of the people who had run that home were involved in the teen home in Wantage and used the procedure there. He said:
"It was not used throughout the whole of the family. It appears to have been a local initiative. When I raised it with World Services as a result of this case, I was advised they didn't really know anything about it. It was not Family policy."
That evidence was neither full nor frank. As I shall explain, there was a great deal more to it than that and either SPM was telling me half the truth or World Services were telling him only a part of the story.
The corporal punishment meted out for obtaining too many demerits was by means of a "paddling", being beaten with a flat "paddle" which, as variously described to me was about 2 to 3 feet long with the paddle being about 6 to 8 inches long, 4 inches wide and an inch thick. Sometimes it had holes drilled through it.
The majority of the children at the combo were there without their parents. Among the adults at the combo were JD and ED and Mary Malaysia. They feature in the case later.
