All God's Children

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Through the eyes of three families, All God's Children tells the personal story of the first boarding school for children of missionaries to be investigated for abuse at the hands of the parents' missionary colleagues. The survivors and parents share their journey of seeking justice, redemption and healing. The Beardslee, Shellrude and Darr families left North America for West Africa during the 1950s. They followed what they believed to be "God's Calling" - to spread Christianity throughout the world. Their children however - starting at the age of 6 - were required to attend the boarding school in Mamou, Guinea, run by the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Cut off from their families for 9 months out of the year and without any reliable means of communication, the children quietly suffered emotional, spiritual, physical and/or sexual abuse at the hands of the all-missionary staff. It took the children decades to acknowledge the effects the abuses had on their lives. When they finally dared to break the silence and speak out, the Church denied all allegations and refused to help. But through years of persistent activism the survivors and their parents finally compelled the Christian and Missionary Alliance to conduct an investigation and acknowledge the abuses. The healing could begin. The investigation of the Mamou Alliance Academy was the first of its kind but has since inspired investigations at other schools of many different denominations.