SHE’LL never forget it: that pervasive feeling of anxiety as she lay in the dormitory late at night, too scared to get up to go to the toilet in case she got into trouble. And then the shame of waking up to discover she’d wet her bed again. What if the other girls saw?
At age 10, Erika Bornman lived in a constant state of terror.
By day she had to watch helplessly as her friends were beaten by their “spiritual leaders”.
Then at night there were the compulsory movie screenings where they were subjected to horrifying scenes of sinners suffering in hell.
This was Erika’s life for 13 years as a resident at KwaSizabantu (KSB), a mission school and settlement in rural KwaZulu-Natal.
She and her family moved there in the ’80s after her mother, Esther, fell under the spell of the mission’s charismatic leader, Erlo Stegen.
And that was the moment her life changed forever. In her new book, Mission of Malice: My Exodus from KwaSizabantu, Erika opens up about the hell she had to endure – the brainwashing, the beatings she witnessed and how she was sexually molested and then branded “a slut”.
“It haunted me for years,” Erika (50) writes in her book. “I felt I was constantly in trouble over something. They convinced me that I’m worthless; that there’s no good in me; that, like all women, I’m a seductress who leads men into temptation.”
She gestures toward the yellow daisies she planted at the front door of her cottage in Milnerton, Cape Town. Her beloved father, Daniel, a maths and science teacher, used to plant yellow daisies wherever they stayed.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة 2 September 2021 من YOU South Africa.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة 2 September 2021 من YOU South Africa.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
HOW TO BE YOUR OWN THERAPIST
With more and more of us struggling with our mental health, here's a common-sense guide to coping with life's ups and downs
SPUD: THE MAGIC CONTINUES
John van de Ruit tells us why he decided to write a sequel - and shares how his first book helped him find enduring love
SEX CONTRACT GONE WRONG
A Cape Town couple have been charged with using a young woman as a sex slave-but some say she lost the job she signed up for and now has a grudge against them
LIAM LAID TO REST
More than a month after One Direction singer LIAM PAYNE (31) tragically fell to his death from a balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, his loved ones finally got to say their goodbyes.
SHILOH HANGS OUT
THE two young women look like any pair of good friends chatting and laughing as they leave their dance class in Los Angeles.
LEO IN LOVE
He's just turned 50 and it seems Leonardo DiCaprio may finally be ready to settle down
PACKING A PUNCH
Irish actor Paul Mescal beefed up for his role in the blockbuster epic Gladiator II - and fans are loving it
I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO BE A LOVE CHILD
As the illegitimate daughter of the king, she fought to be recognised as part of Belgium's royal family, but Princess Delphine says she still feels unwelcome
'I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES'
A bite from a spitting cobra 13 years ago nearly killed her but Mikayla survived - and she's made peace with her scars
THE CLAWS ARE OUT!
Things have grown frosty between the Beckhams and the Sussexes as Becks comes out in clear support of William