An Experience I will never forget.
It was 1994. I was still in college, taking full time classes, but the summer was beginning, in which I had to find work in order to survive, for there was no financial aid during those months. I thought I would have a better opportunity working for the School District in Corona, where I had worked in the 80's, before my horrific divorce. I was still a Jehovah's Witness, but they were letting me do whatever to survive.
I went down to Southern California and first attended the District Convention in Los Angeles, staying with a sister during that weekend. Then on Monday, I went to the School District to pick up a slip of paper which would allow me to work in a school. The first school I went to did not need anyone, so I went to another school, at which the secretary took my slip right away, and said they would call me when they needed me. I gave her my stepmother's phone number to call me, even though I did not know where I would be staying. The sister with whom I had stayed for the convention said that she couldn't have me stay with her for fear that her rent would be raised, and so she had suggested that I ask another sister who lived in Riverside. I went over there to ask her, and she began asking me questions about my work, and then she made some remarks about people we both knew who did not like me. These were people who had been involved with my divorce; they were in the Jehovah's Witness congregation that I and my ex had both been in. Then she made out a bill that she said she would be willing to charge me, but not until July. I left her house, and went to my friend in Corona, who had said she was sick, too sick to have me stay there, and I ended up staying in my car that night.
The following day, I went to my stepmother's house, and her granddaughter was there, treating her really awful, and I left there feeling very angry. I went that evening to the Jehovah's Witness meeting at the new Motel-Looking group of Kingdom Halls, and met a sister that I knew, who asked me where I was staying. I made the mistake of telling her the truth, that I was staying in my car because this other sister wasn't well. So she told me that I could stay in her apartment until this other sister felt better. The next day, I called my stepmother to ask if they had called me to go to work, and she told me that nobody had called. So I went to look for some kind of a job, since I needed to work, and this School District wasn't panning out. Then I went back to this womans apartment, and found out that she didn't want me to stay there anymore, since this other sister said that she didn't want me there, either. From there, I went to my stepmother's house, and asked her if I could stay for two weeks until I got paid. She said okay, but I had real reservations about it. Her youngest daughter, the aunt of the granddaughter, got really snippy with me, and the next morning, I left to go back home; I knew that I was not going to get any work, and I was facing the reality that I had no place to stay.
Four days after I returned home, my son called me to tell me that his grandfather had died, and four days after that, my car got towed away for a bill that I owed, and there was nothing I could do about it. My Jehovah's Witness friends could not and would not help me; they told me to ask my kids to give me the money. I could not do this, for I did not know if any of my kids even liked me enough to say boo to me.
I got a few of my Jehovah's Witness friends to take me to the meetings, although it was like pulling teeth, for I lived out in the country, and no one wanted to come out there to do anything for me. But I did have a neighbor friend who helped me. His name was Ralphie. We did everything together, and to keep the Jehovah's Witnesses happy, just in case they came around, I obtained a certificate from Mexico stating that we were married, so they couldn't say that I was fornicating. To this day, he does not know that I did that. We still keep in touch; he is 25 years older than I am, and he still lives there in his trailer, four spaces from where mine was.
That summer was memorable; at the end of it, the county or the state or whoever took my car, sent me 1200 dollars, with which I purchased another car to go back to school with. This is the first year I really questioned the Witnesses and their treatment of their people.
This is also the first time that I am verbalizing this experience, and I really think that I needed to do this, for all that will read it and for my own thinking.
I went down to Southern California and first attended the District Convention in Los Angeles, staying with a sister during that weekend. Then on Monday, I went to the School District to pick up a slip of paper which would allow me to work in a school. The first school I went to did not need anyone, so I went to another school, at which the secretary took my slip right away, and said they would call me when they needed me. I gave her my stepmother's phone number to call me, even though I did not know where I would be staying. The sister with whom I had stayed for the convention said that she couldn't have me stay with her for fear that her rent would be raised, and so she had suggested that I ask another sister who lived in Riverside. I went over there to ask her, and she began asking me questions about my work, and then she made some remarks about people we both knew who did not like me. These were people who had been involved with my divorce; they were in the Jehovah's Witness congregation that I and my ex had both been in. Then she made out a bill that she said she would be willing to charge me, but not until July. I left her house, and went to my friend in Corona, who had said she was sick, too sick to have me stay there, and I ended up staying in my car that night.
The following day, I went to my stepmother's house, and her granddaughter was there, treating her really awful, and I left there feeling very angry. I went that evening to the Jehovah's Witness meeting at the new Motel-Looking group of Kingdom Halls, and met a sister that I knew, who asked me where I was staying. I made the mistake of telling her the truth, that I was staying in my car because this other sister wasn't well. So she told me that I could stay in her apartment until this other sister felt better. The next day, I called my stepmother to ask if they had called me to go to work, and she told me that nobody had called. So I went to look for some kind of a job, since I needed to work, and this School District wasn't panning out. Then I went back to this womans apartment, and found out that she didn't want me to stay there anymore, since this other sister said that she didn't want me there, either. From there, I went to my stepmother's house, and asked her if I could stay for two weeks until I got paid. She said okay, but I had real reservations about it. Her youngest daughter, the aunt of the granddaughter, got really snippy with me, and the next morning, I left to go back home; I knew that I was not going to get any work, and I was facing the reality that I had no place to stay.
Four days after I returned home, my son called me to tell me that his grandfather had died, and four days after that, my car got towed away for a bill that I owed, and there was nothing I could do about it. My Jehovah's Witness friends could not and would not help me; they told me to ask my kids to give me the money. I could not do this, for I did not know if any of my kids even liked me enough to say boo to me.
I got a few of my Jehovah's Witness friends to take me to the meetings, although it was like pulling teeth, for I lived out in the country, and no one wanted to come out there to do anything for me. But I did have a neighbor friend who helped me. His name was Ralphie. We did everything together, and to keep the Jehovah's Witnesses happy, just in case they came around, I obtained a certificate from Mexico stating that we were married, so they couldn't say that I was fornicating. To this day, he does not know that I did that. We still keep in touch; he is 25 years older than I am, and he still lives there in his trailer, four spaces from where mine was.
That summer was memorable; at the end of it, the county or the state or whoever took my car, sent me 1200 dollars, with which I purchased another car to go back to school with. This is the first year I really questioned the Witnesses and their treatment of their people.
This is also the first time that I am verbalizing this experience, and I really think that I needed to do this, for all that will read it and for my own thinking.
posted by Claudia Barlow | 3:57 PM
1 Comments:
Wow Claudia. Thanks for sharing.
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