: Lilia Tarawa | TEDxChristchurch | Video Link: I grew up in a cult Lilia Tarawa was brought up in the Gloriavale Christian Community on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand, where she was constantly surrounded by everyone she loved. But over time, she began to see…
: By Woman’s Day – 19/09/2017 (Video can be viewed in article link). As she curls up on the couch in her townhouse on the outskirts of Christchurch, Lilia Tarawa looks every bit the successful businesswoman. With her runway looks and easy laugh, the 26-year-old business mentor chats about leadership, her…
: Books – The Guardian – 30/08/2022 My life in a religious cult: ‘The most dangerous place in the world is the womb of an ungodly woman By Lilia Tarawa After her childhood in a secretive cult founded by her grandfather, New Zealand woman Lilia Tarawa risked hellfire and damnation to…
: By Laura Tupou | RNZ | A Ministry of Education scholarship giving students the chance to attend a private school has pulled Gloriavale’s school from the list of options. The Aspire Scholarship started in 2010 and is for students from low-income families going into Year 9. The ministry pays up to $15,000…
: India Happenings – 02/04/2017 We came across a recent investigative report which appeared in a New Zealand MSM here. MSM in NZ has been focussing on alleged abuses and other individual rights violations in Gloriavale. Naturally, they are not interested in the expansion of Gloriavale commune to India, as they…
: Roimata Tarawa and Leah Menage, with Anna Brankin – Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu – 31/03/2017 “There’s a saying I love,” says Leah Menage. “‘Life is for living, so get a straw and suck it dry.’ To me that means seize every opportunity that you can and never give up.”…
: | Stuff | Henry Cooke | There is probably no religious group New Zealanders have seen more of over the last decade than Gloriavale. The West Coast Christian community has been featured in a series of documentaries and many news reports. The allegations made against the community by former members have been…
: By Anke Richter – The Spiinoff – 30/03/2017 For an ex-member of New Zealand’s one and only ‘sex cult’, the parallels between Centrepoint and Gloriavale raise some serious questions about the government’s handling of sexual abuse accusations in religious communities, writes Anke Richter. Three years ago I spent many afternoons…
: By Melanie Reid | Newsroom | It’s now more than 20 years since Melanie Reid went “undercover” to report on the Cooperite community based on a remote West Coast farm. The Christian Community, now known as Gloriavale, was back in the news this week when Newsroom revealed the findings of…
