Thailand video footage
I've never been to Thailand so I wouldn't be able to provide you with any information based on my personal knowledge. However, I did find some mid-1980s Family video footage from Thailand that you may find useful.

The only problem is it's not great quality not only because of how old it is but also because it's not from the original tapes but rather from a compilation of clips/excerpts from the original tapes. While I was going to wait to add this footage to an online archive until I had access to the original source tapes, it seems it will be awhile before that happens so I might as well put it there now.

Here are the download links with brief descriptions of each clip:

http://media2.xfamily.org/video/fam/internal/tape-mc3-thailand-clip1.avi
0:03:48.528, 13M, RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 352 x 240, ~30 fps, video: XviD, audio: MPEG-1 Layer 3 (stereo, 48000 Hz)
Family members at some sort of fellowship meeting/training seminar singing "We have declared war of the spirit..."

http://media2.xfamily.org/video/fam/internal/tape-mc3-thailand-clip2.avi
0:38:05.683, 121M, RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 352 x 240, ~30 fps, video: XviD, audio: MPEG-1 Layer 3 (stereo, 48000 Hz)
Witnessing Explosion! Northeast Thailand
Part One - Surin Elephant Festival
Barazali and Christina at the "Musician's Home" in Bangkok introduce video - maps and pictures
Children and adults sitting around large table pass the microphone around
Simon, 32, introduces himself, states parents are "Dad and Maria" and rambles on for a bit
Daniel Dutch, 37, introduces himself, states he loves "Dad and Maria"
April, 10 and half, introduces herself, states parents are "Barzali and Esther"
Maria, 10, of , introduces herself, states parents are "Matthew and Mary"
Fafa, 11, introduces herself, states parents are "Micah and Victory"
children singing on stage
Simon, in very dim light, giving his "testimony"
Unseen male talks for a bit, talking about and complimenting "Simon and Ecclesia"
Barazali (voiceover) again, introducing video segment about Army fair
Leah and Esther
Barzali and Esther, he introduces her and says they have been together for "close to one year"
Esther says she has been in The Family "almost two years" and at Barzali's suggestion, "shares" her "testimony"
says she was a teacher and also worked at a hotel, met TF when they had a GAFm at her hotel, etc
Barazali says the just had a little boy named "David Daniel," says they have 5 children and that his "first wife" left The Family a few years ago,
scene shifts to "Army fair" event, Barazli (voiceover) talks about the event
Barzali introduces and interviews "Angel", she says he joined TF "over 4 years ago" and talks for a bit
back to fair, Barzali narrating, children singing/performing on stage
large crowd of people, including soldiers and Family members of various ages, dancing
outdoor scene, tents, clapping, etc
video credits
new scene - Witnessing at Bangkok fashion show
Leah introduces and interviews Leah (another one) and Nathan
scenes of event
children singing and performing on stage in wedding costumes, singing "Where would we be without love?"

http://media2.xfamily.org/video/fam/internal/tape-mc3-thailand-clip3.avi
0:11:22.848, 36M, RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 352 x 240, ~30 fps, video: XviD, audio: MPEG-1 Layer 3 (stereo, 48000 Hz)
performance from previous clip 2 continued
Leah and Nathan and Leah discuss event
video credits
scene shifts to another event where children are performing and singing
Barzali introduces Judy who talks for a bit
unidentified adult male Family member talks for a bit
video credits
camera - Josiah and Ele
narrated by Barzalli
edited by Barazalli and Josiah

http://media2.xfamily.org/video/fam/internal/tape-mc3-thailand-clip4.avi
0:08:00.746, 26M, RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 352 x 240, ~30 fps, video: XviD, audio: MPEG-1 Layer 3 (stereo, 48000 Hz)
More Witnessing in Bangkok
Leah narrating, at the Siam (sp) Intercontinental hotel in Bangkok, invited by the Rotary club to "give a special talk and for our children to sing"
they president of the Rotary Club at the fashion show, he invited them to sing at a picnic and "now they've asked us to come back and present our tapes and for the children to sing"
Angel introduced, helping to set up display table with tapes
Dust introduced, she is going to be the main speaker and is going over her notes
Glen introduced, Leah says Glen and Dust initially met Mr. Pritak (sp), the Rotary Club president
Glen shows a brochure they are going to distribute
Rotary Club official introduces two speakers
"Marie Claire, from Melbourne, Australia" states she has been a "social worker" for nine and a half years
then he introduces "Glen George, from Vancouver, Canada" says he is a "professional social worker" who has been working for 16 years since "the day he left school until now"
Marie Claire aka Dust speaks
children sing, man (Barz?) plays guitar
another Rotary club official speaks and presents a certificate to Glen
more footage of the event,
credits

Children
Fafa
Jesse
Angela
Missy

Editing
Josiah

Special Thanks
Musicians Home
Nathans Home
FF Team

http://media2.xfamily.org/video/fam/internal/tape-mc3-thailand-clip5.avi
0:09:56.362, 32M, RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 352 x 240, ~30 fps, video: XviD, audio: MPEG-1 Layer 3 (stereo, 48000 Hz)
brief scene, male singing, large crowd of people (at a refugee camp?) picking up papers falling from the sky
scene shifts
unidentified male introduces child "Jonathan" who "has been learning lesson on guitar playing"
Jonathan speaks for a few minutes
another child (unidentified) speaks for a few minutes about "some more lessons I've been learning have been about receiving correction"
scene shifts to large meeting/training seminar
unidentified man on stage speaks for a bit and then exhorts audience members to stand up if they want to "make that commitment"
audience sings "Battle Hymn of the Revolution" - lyrics at http://media.xfamily.org/docs/fam/bth/bth-0155.pdf
scene shifts - unidentified male interviews Leah about what she is doing in Bangkok
says he she is working on "reaching the top" and just moved into the FF Home, that she is "very thankful to be on that team," has been "learning a lot of lessons," etc, clip ends abruptly in mid-sentence

Re: Thailand homes
Thanks for posting those videos Peter. The first video was the Thai YES. I'm there, as is Tito's father Barzali (he's the guy up the back with the white t-shirt, left from the camera's point of view). This is the first video I've seen of the YES in over 20 years other than the short segments that were aired on the Dr Phil show etc last year. Seeing that footage of Tina, Michael Piano and some of the others brought back plenty of memories...I spent a lot of time with them at the music home and remember it all as though it happened yesterday. Tina, in particular, I have some very mixed feelings about.

Seeing this footage after all these years, and re-living what it was like to grow up in that environment, I can't help but feel a sense of overwhelming sadness. As creepy as it is to watch, I can understand how that kind of environment could have arisen from the hippie movement..many other similar such scenes did. But to see grown adults with families, 20 years later, still clutching onto that mentality...I don't think I'll ever understand how that type of delusion was able to sustain itself for so long on such a large scale. I know this forum isn't particularly tolerant of FG criticism, so I'll save my strongest rhetoric for the MovingOn site, but I will say one thing: over the years I always thought that while the COG did indeed have some truly sadistic and psychotic individuals who clearly derived personal pleasure from torturing children, most of the others were probably well meaning people who genuinely wanted to make the world a better place. I'm sure most of them genuinely thought, in their personal twisted versions of reality, that that's what they were doing at the time. But now, 20 years later and with the benefit of hindsight, I don't even see that any more. All I see now are a large number of desperately, desperately sad losers. The kind of people I now look at in pity when they approach me in the street. Weak-minded, brainwashed idiots, utterly incapable of any semblance of independent thought and totally incapable of dealing with and adapting to the changes that were happening in the world they came from.

It's just such a shame they had to go and start families.

Re: Thailand homes


Oh. No. We have _zero_ problem with that! Our only take on "criticism" is our absolute take on non-subjectivism on what we write in our (wiki) articles on this group. That is, feel free to speak whatever is on your mind on this group (or, as I like to call them, "a cult") in these forums. As long as you are civil . . . speak your mind! Obviously (and hopefully), whatever ends up in one of our articles will only present (verifiable) facts. As we have stated many times before: If anything we have presented is _not_ verifiable, we are always welcome to corrections.

Re: Thailand homes
Incidentally, the "unidentified male" interviewing Leah in the last video is Daniel of Daniel & Sherah. He ran the teen home in Chantaburi where I was sent along with several others. If anyone knows his legal name and/or current location then I'd appreciate you posting his details here.

Re: Thailand homes
I can't thank you guys enough for putting this information out here, it's amazing after all these years, I can still pick up on the energy that was addicting and always makes me wonder how exactly the fine line of child parenting and child exploitation factor in the group. The use of children as entertainment was truly a double-edged sword. "Dad" and Maria should have come second only to the children, the ones who lived it daily as dancing and performing actors, exploited to the public. Skilled, yes! They were brilliant. The children adapted, they experienced all of the mind control and numbing concoctions built with a brew of words and books and songs and activities. Now I believe there is an extreme loss of satisfaction, going to a normal life. So how do we get fulfilled? Why did this happen so long ago yet comes up in my mind to post this today? I for one am not hiding out. I watched the episode on CNN's Larry King Live a week and a half ago, and felt unsatisfied. The talk about recovery, therapy, de-programming, it's all rhetoric if there is no example of recovery that gives a truer picture of an individual, yet that is all the masses know, unfortunately, that there are no success stories except the occasional kidnapping, which comes from the top down into a media blizzard that twists people's lives with ill intentions to expose and shock, exploit with permission? From who? Not the children, unless still in the outgoing mode of lying, performing, and loving everyone. Not the parents, unless they were still in the mode of exploiting their children, and seeking attention for the sake of their existence in TF. So many times to so many people I've told the story I know from childhood. If they've heard about it, they recall some of the stories, mostly Ricky's suicide. Where did my brother go? Why weren't we there to help these boys? The true tragedy of the family is that it gave people dreams and hopes that would eventually not come true, not possibly. The act of breaking beyond that is like striking a cement wall with a rubber bull-dozer. Are you the wall, or the mobile object? Going around the wall is how I would explain the deployment of my course of action to overcome the grief and ill memories. I've talked to a counselor in my life for a total of 20 hours. And have never thought it helpful . Strangers and friends, family that are actually there for me, are intrigued, sometimes at first dis-believing of my past (and sometimes my present). My children, are my own, my dreams, they are my investment. Success to overcoming this past for me was having my own children, seeing their nurtured talents and joys and knowing they are the successors of my heritage. The positive energy. is what they are owed, They are the true survivors of a past generation lost in a fantasy of never-ending love and success and joy with the future void of laws and rules and conscious thought of individualism and life skills. I'm thankful for the opportunity to post my thoughts to you. Thank you for all of your support, and friendship.

Tito

Re: Thailand homes
Hey,
I lived in Thailand from 85' till 93'. I can remember names like Caleb, Uncle Asaf (one of the crows), Fa Fa, Dawn, Nathan, Karen, Jeremy.
My name is Mary Ann. I am the second eldest out of 12 from Peter and Maria/Mercy. My sisters names were Tamar, Flor, Heidi, and so on. We began our mission in Bangkok then moved to Changmai, Hatyai, Songkla,Chantaburi, Phuket, Bangsen, and back to Bangkok. It feels strange to attempt to remember names that were not even real. I guess so much wasn't. I have much to share but do not know if you are still interested in contacts from the past being that this posting is from last year. I will let this one be a test.
Hope to hear from you!

Re: Thailand video footage



I used to live in Bangkok from 1981-1985 and they befriended me, invited me to their Family home, witnessed to me and supplied me with some of their literature and posters. I remember the many children that were always living in their homes and I still have pics of some of them I made at the time, even when I came to visit them from Korea in Chantaburi in 1987. In Bangkok they often could be seen witnessing with their little children in the Red Light District (Patpong Road), always singing Guitar in hand.

And always those little kids....

That's what I remember the most after all those years.When years later I found out what that group was really all about it broke my heart..


Does anybody know what has become of Simon and Ekklesia ? Their daughter's name was Anaik and they had a son called Adam.

If you are interested in my pics and uploading them on this side is permitted, I will gladly oblige.

Re: Thailand homes
Hi,

I lived in Thailand. I remember Caleb and Naomi and some of the other people you mentioned. I was 13 at the time. I am Estrela,daughter of Luz. My Brother Andy just recently died, another result of the abuse we suffered in the Family. My thoughts are with your brother.

Re: Thailand homes


Hi Mark,
I know Daniel and Sherah. I lived in their home. I don't know their real names. All I remember is that they were sick people that liked to take me and my brother to this room and beat us a lot. especially my Brother.

Re: Thailand homes
Hi,
I remember Peter and Maria. Theywere the leaders in a home we lived in.

Re: Thailand homes



Hi Tito,

Not sure if you will see this as the thread is from so long ago. I lived in Thailand from 1981-2003; I was born 1980 so was quite young when you were there, however I do remember your family. I was also at the home in Thailand that Caleb, April and John visited in 1998 (maybe earlier? Can't remember the exact year). I did not know that Caleb passed away and am deeply sorry for your loss...I didn't know him that well, but from what I remember he seemed like a wonderful person. Sammy (he goes by Sam now) is here in Australia with his wife and three children, his father (Gill) passed away a couple years ago.