Hi! My name is Gabriela Bianchini Teixeira and I’m 21, born and always lived in Brazil, in different parts of the country.

My parents joined The Family when I was one year old so it’s like I was practically born in The Family. They had five more kids and when I was around 7 my dad decided to leave (not because he was against The Family, but just thought the life style was a little too hard for him) so we all left together. The whole time we were out I always wanted to come back as I really loved the life we had then. My parents always told us that we could go back when we were old enough. So, I waited anxiously till I turned 16 to finally be able to come back. Now my parents are happy I did. It was a big relief for my mom because my parents had separated by then and my mom struggled with all us kids on her own, with my sister and I going out dancing at night and coming home late, receiving anonymous phone calls in the middle of the nights threatening to kill my sister, etc.

When I first left The Family I did equivalency tests to see what grade I would be in and I was ahead for my age and was also fluent in English and Portuguese. It wasn’t hard for me at all to adjust and relate to others and make new friends because in The Family we learned to be outgoing and could easily relate to people of all ages. My friends would always laugh at me saying that when they first met me I was “so pure white I was almost transparent!” Ha! At first I didn’t know any cuss words and had no vices at all. Unfortunately it didn’t take me long to learn them outside The Family and quickly lost my purity.

When I was in the fourth grade (10) we all watched a movie called “The Faces of Death” in class, a movie showing different true life shots of people dying or being executed. What kind of an education is that that children are exposed to? My parents, nor The Family would have ever let children watch such horrid violence and disregard to human life.

In my pre-teen years I had to deal with the strong peer pressure of having to date boys, if not I was square or out of touch, snobbish. The girls in my class would compete to see who could go out with the most boys or how many boys they could make out with in one party (I’m talking about at 11 years old!) and who would loose their virginity first. When I was 15, one of my friends had two abortions in the same year and four girls had gotten pregnant in my classroom the same year.

What I’m getting at is that I had left a protected environment where I knew no violence, and ended up in world where all extremes and types of violence, such as a lack of love, tons of verbal violence that I saw in my friend’s homes, kids getting together to beat someone up just because that person was ugly or new or even good looking. My brother saw a drug pusher shoot and kill one of the student’s father right in front of our school and he had some homosexual trying to pick him up. My poor brother ended up in depression while his “friends” were constantly bullying. In the last school before coming back to The Family, the students would get drunk and high during the breaks and I had to put up with the torment of girls I didn’t even know threatening to beat me up after school. My sister did get beat up once and my brothers several times, like lots of friends of mine.

I don’t have kids yet (I’m not married yet) but I know that I would never want my kids to be exposed to things like that, violence, bullying, negative psychological pressure, abuse, drugs, etc. like my brothers and sisters and I were exposed to.

I think it is absolutely ridiculous to hear such accusations against The Family, because for me, being in The Family has protected me from all that. And besides being protected from all that violence and abuse I used to be exposed to before I came back to The Family, I don’t know of any place where I could get so much attention, care and love like I’ve gotten here. Another thing that surprises me is how most people are so unprepared for the essentials in life, basic knowledge, such as how to take care of a baby, raise children, discipline, manners, nutrition, health care or cook or relate to people while these are all things that The Family is professional at and teaches us all we need to know before we get married and start to have our own families. This is something I’m thankful for. The Family has all the “know how” and people really help us too!!!

I feel extremely privileged to be “born” in The Family and be able to live here. It’s as is it were a little bit of Heaven in the midst of all this hell and confusion in the world. When I look around me at different situations outside The Family I see that there is no better place for me than here. I am relieved to know that when I have my kids they’re going to be raised here in a safe environment. What about you? Do you want your kids exposed to all the violence, drugs, negative peer pressure that has taken over the world? I think it’s a shame that all kids don’t have the privilege to grow up in an environment of love, attention and care like we have. I know it’s not perfect because the group is made up of human beings that are fallible. But the biggest blunder that could occur here couldn’t even begin to compare to the horrors that go on outside the group every day. You decide. It seems that these accusations are just the typical pot calling the kettle black. Why don’t we just all role up our sleeves and start trying to do something good for our brothers instead of living just to try and tear down other people’s happy lives. I’m a simple girl and I’m really not perfect, but at least I’ve dedicated my life to try and help people by teaching them the Bible and trying to teach them about the love of Jesus, and I know it works! What are you doing???

Very sincerely,
Gaby

Gabriela Bianchini Teixeira is a second-generation member of the Family International.