Aisha's Story

My name is Aisha Clarke, and I am 16 years of age. For my whole life my mother has been "searching" for the true religion. I've been dragged from church to church trying to find the answers to her life's questions.

When I was 8 my parents divorced and I lived with my father, till the age of around 10, things went fine, I'd visit my mum on weekends and she would even then drag me along to "Sunday School." When I was 12 years old my mum decided to move to Queensland, which is where she is today. But up until 1998, I was living with my dad until he was arrested for armed robbery,
which was when I was moved to Queensland to live with my mum.

On arrival of moving to Queensland my mother had mentioned the fact that she had been studying the faith of the Jehovah's Witnesses, as I was young and
unsure of what exactly this religion required I accepted to go along to one of the meetings. The first meeting that I attended was a "Book Study" and the book being studied at the time was "The Bible, God's Word or Man? "I arrived wearing jeans and a jumper, soon I was to realise girls and women were asked to wear only skirts or dresses to the meetings. This was fine, I could understand we had to look the part etc. I didn't have one single dress or skirt so the sisters were kind enough to give me some.

Prior to my arrival my mother had been studying for quite some time, but kept hidden this fact from me. Time went by and my mum started to change--little things such as she would care who my friends were, what I was wearing, the way in which I spoke, she would limit the time I spent with "worldly" friends, she would discourage me to associate with anyone in my
family who lived in Adelaide because they were worldly." I was not allowed any letters from friends or family in SA coz they were not witnesses, all
kinds of things she once had no problem with soon became a major issue. I was at the age of 12 maybe 13, just starting at a new school with all new
people, it's bad enough having to change schools but it's even worse when its in a whole new state. Friends would ask me to their birthday parties or
whatever, my whole life this hadn't been an issue, this now was a very big issue.

My mum would say this is the right religion this is the way to follow it: and that was her explanation to a 12 year old on why all of a sudden these things were wrong. I had no say in the matter and once it was made clear to her that I didn't want anything to do with this religion, her grasp on my freedom got a hell of a lot tighter, she became married to a man who had
been raised in the faith and knew no different, so he was beyond comprehension of what it was like for a "worldly" person to be forced into not having birthdays or any of these other things they considered to be worldly. My new stepfather and mum did everything in their power to make me a witness, made me go to all the conventions, witness to strangers,
pre-study, family study, wear the clothes, talk the talk EVERYTHING!!! And what made things worse was that 'Gary' -- my mum's new husband, well his
parents had been in the truth all their lives and his father was an elder in our congregation, so everyone had all these thoughts of me being some little angel.

No matter how many times I tried to tell my family this was not the religion for me they would not listen! Even other young ones in the congregation I
was unable to talk to and by the end of it, I knew no one who was not a witness, my mum had me taken out of school so she could monitor who I associated with and just full on over-the-top bullshit that I did not need.
She made it so impossible for me to live a normal life I became suicidal, and when this did not work I was forced to run away back here home to Adelaide, and still to this day I haven't spoken to my mother since. Last year was when I made my getaway, and it's been the best thing I have ever done.

One thing that brings tears to my eyes, is the fact that my mum is dying of M.S, you may have heard of it, anyway she was diagnosed when I was born and the doctors said about 9 months ago, you only have at the most 6 more months to live, the witnesses have taken my mother away from me in the last crucial days of her life, if they had accepted the fact that I did not want to be one of them, I would still be living in Queensland. I wouldn't be a JW but I'd still see my mum, now because of her arsehole husband and all the other selfish people in the congregation I will never get to say sorry to her, kiss her goodbye or even tell her that I loved her. I could write and tell her of these things but because I don't want to be involved in their religion, she won't have anything to do with me, and it sux!

No matter what religion I am I should still be allowed to spend the last few months with her, she is my mum always has been and always will be, why should people she hardly knows be allowed to be with her when her only blood relation left can't even speak to her? The witnesses have taken my mother away and I don't care whether Jehovah is real or not anyone who takes a
mother away from their only child should have the uttermost pain bestowed upon them. This is what I feel every day when I think about why and how come I'll never see or hear my mother's voice again.

Thank you for your time.