Day Twenty-two - Miyake Volcano

Need I mention Roman Polanski? Thirty years ago, at 44, he raped a 13 year old girl . She is now 43. I wonder where she is in her life? Can she comfortably speak with people about this? Every time he received an award it was thrown up in her face. Where are the people coming out of the wood work to protect her like they are attempting to protect him? Unbelievable!! Yes, some would say, but it was 30 years ago. Why would you continue to hold someone accountable for their behavior 30 years ago? Well come to the year 2000 - 30 years before I began my three year prison term being the target and subject of child molestation, sexual abuse, etc. At this point I still didn't realize that there were others..........

In 2000, three years after we moved to Alabama I was checking my email one morning and opened an email from an ASIJ alum requesting help. Anytime I saw anything regarding Japan or ASIJ I naturally was curious about what it said. As I began to read - I don't even remember what was in the subject line - I became agitated. That's probably not a strong enough word. The email, sent to numerous people, requested financial assistance to help Jack Moyer pay a mortgage on his Miyake Farm of  $20,000. In June of 2000, the volcano on Miyake erupted and caused everyone on the island to evacuate. I don't know if Jack's farm actually was damaged but I know he was no longer able to maintain the farm.

I really was unsure how to handle the email. My initial response was disbelief. I couldn't believe that the school would endorse or condone this kind of request. But, at this point after previous responses or lack there of, I wasn't surprised. I didn't really know who was behind the request. I didn't know the former student who made the request but was really surprised that it would land in my mailbox. Initially, I wrote her back and requested that she pull the email and discontinue any activity of solicitation from anyone. I explained to her what had happened to me and that I was very surprised by her zealous request. Her first response to me was to confirm my fears. She said basically, "I'm sorry you experienced this but too bad. Not only am I going to help him but I'm not sure I believe you." Now, I'm not quoting exactly what she said, I'm just recalling what I perceived from her email.

Because of her sardonic response, I decided it was time to blow the top off of this. At least to me it felt like that what I was doing. I proceeded to write a letter to the then administrator of the school, I believe he was the Headmaster, sharing my story and challenging the school to stop endorsing the financial request. I mailed the letter with a return receipt attached. Weeks later I received the return receipt showing that he received the letter. I didn't hear from him or anyone from the school. I started to feel those same old shameful feelings. Why are you upsetting the apple cart, Janet? Why are you causing problems for the school? What is wrong with you? Can't you see this is all your fault? But, for whatever reason, strength from God or inner strength (which still comes from God) I persevered and decided to contact the school to see if the administrator received the letter. I wrote an email to him and waited several days for his response.

As you can imagine, everyday I would open my email expecting some kind of reply. It finally came days later. The sterile response said basically, "We received your letter and the board is reviewing it." There were no additional responses and I have no idea what happened after that. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe I heard that Jack was asked to leave the school sometime in the 1990's, however, I believe he still hosted the seventh grade class trip until the volcano hit in 2000. Even after the the school was notified via the reunion committee in 1990, that a student made an accusation against him, they continued to allow their children to work with him and stay in his home. Why would a school continue to harbor a known pedophile? Are you in anyway baffled about this like I am?

After the brief email, I didn't hear anything else from the school. I assumed that they would take care of the situation and that would be the end of anything regarding Jack and the school. Well, again I expected people to do the right thing. People don't always do the right thing. My vulnerable self still believed that people would want to do the right thing. But my skeptical self, who kept the story from anyone for years, knew better.

I don't think I received any more requests for money. I spoke with several people about the ludicrous request and was satisfied that he didn't get any money, at least not that I knew of. I did find out that he had asked this former student of his to send out a request to all the email addresses she had from the Alumni list and request money from ASIJ Alumni. What a yellow bellied coward. I could see his droopy basset hound eyes pleading with this young adherent to "please, please help me. If you don't help me I'll be ruined. I have two homes to support, one on Miyake and the other in the Philippines. I don't know what to do. Will you please help me? I'll be financially devastated. After all the good work I've done. I'll lose everything." He was very good at manipulating any situation to his benefit. Exploitation. Even this young woman was being exploited and she didn't even realize it. After I got over my own anger and disbelief at her response, I was able to see that she too had been duped by this master manipulator.

One thing I did find out during this time was that he married a very young woman (possibly in her late teens or early 20's) from Singapore. Rumor has it that she was in her mid teens when they met. The Philippines are known for exploitation of children, primarily sexually exploited children.

You can find more on the Philippines in this article:

http://www.unescap.org/esid/hds/projects/csec/pubs/philippines.pdf

I'm not sure about the accuracy of the information about his new wife, however; I know she was very young compared to his now old age. I was also told that together they had two young children, one boy and one girl. What to do with this information? Should I do anything about it? How could I do anything about it with them all the way across the world? Besides, he was old. Surely by now he was tired and didn't attempt to molest little girls, right? He also had his own young girl legally in his own home. I also started hearing "rumors" about other people having experienced similar things that I had. Who were they? Would they be willing to talk to me? So, on I went, hopeful that the school was taking care of it on their end, mildly satisfied that I had done all I could.

This was 30 years later............... I was now 41 years old.

(Next post I need to tell you about the time I told my parents. I'll digress about 5 years.)

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