Support a Survivor's Quest for Justice in the SCAI inquiry

Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) participant requesting urgent financial support

• I have been accepted as a witness for the ongoing Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry [https://www.childabuseinquiry.scot/] which began in 2015.

• I can't articulate the immensity of what I am about to do. I intend to go fully public with my name and testimony, instead of offering an anonymous witness statement, for the sake of transparency and to encourage other survivors to do so.

• The institution, a very well known Scottish boarding school, that I am set to give testimony about has so far got off very lightly in public, in a large part due to the immediate suicide of one of the key perpetrators once that he realized that Police Scotland was wanting to speak with him about multiple cases of abuse of young boys.

• This prevented the abuser from being questioned and giving up his fellow abusers in what appears to be actual network of pedophiles (in the most charitable version of the story) 'hiding' within an institutional boarding school setting.

• The same person was involved in my abuse, the story of which includes attempted rapes of myself and actual rapes of others by groomed older boys, including an attempt by these older boys to force me to perform sex with an animal, while the teacher/housemaster had sex with another animal in the same indoor space. Yes, it was really that bad.

• In the course of preparing my testimony, it has become apparent that the research time and writing time is going to be nonstop until all of the facts are out of my system and my testimony is fully written.

• I am in my mid-50s. I have a BA(Hons) in English and Psychology, and spent my career working in communications and journalism, with a focus on human rights and, at times, child abuse in different countries around the world.

• I have written many long-form documents in my life. All this to say, I have the skills to deliver the truth in this situation. But as a freelancer who lives month to month, I do not have any nest egg to rely on.

• The reason for this GoFundMe is that I basically just need to be able to pay the rent and bills for the next 3 months as I go through this process and God knows what media circus will follow.

• The total figure I need—again, I am asking for the minimum in order to be able cover living expenses (rent & bills) so that I can give this project my full attention and complete my research and writing before testifying—represents roughly US$5,000 or £3,750. Living costs.

• Please give what you can. I do not want this institution to get away with it, which is why I will ultimately be sacrificing my privacy in lieu of the anonymity that many have chosen (no judgement there, folks, I truly get how very hard this is). Thank you.

• If you can't help financially (lol, "hello darkness my old friend") please, please do share this. That's just as useful. Thanks again.