My name is Ann Thompson. I am an author, a poet, a publisher and also an editor for this book. I have written about my experience in two Catholic Church Orphanages. I am hoping to raise funds to publish this book about my experience in the Orphanages. I want to raise awareness and help New Zealanders who have suffered a similar experience.
This book is written through the eyes of a child, telling her story, whose memories are as vivid today, as though they were yesterday. I was not educated, but the child in me does not go a day without the pain, shame, and torment of the abuse, which she was put through, by the very people who should have looked after her. I thought all my life that I was a bad child and that the punishment was done to me for being bad and a bold girl. A child who could not do anything unless she was punished beforehand.
I have written this book because I believe those of us who have been abused by the nuns and priests need to tell our stories so the abuse of children will never happen again.
This crime and our shame will never go away until we stand together as one and say to the Catholic Church. 'No more abuse; No more lies; Tell the world the truth.'