Jolie's Fight Against a Cult for Her Children

My name is Jennifer Nye and I am raising money for my sister. For her legal battles that span 3 countries. For her criminal fight that involves 2 countries. For her children, who were taken from her illegally while she was trying to gain custody of them by legal means.

Most of you had probably not heard of Grace Road Church until I began posting on Facebook during our Fiji adventure. My sister joined this church, which has over the years become a cult. She took her young 5-year-old son with her, at the instruction of her husband, and was promptly separated from her little boy for 2 years with very little contact. After 2 years, she only had about 15 minutes with him before he was taken with the other children to a farm while she remained in the city. A few years later she gave birth to a little girl, with whom she was able to live for one year and then was separated from her as well.

During Jolie's time in Fiji, she was required to work 12-16 hour days for no pay. She was beaten by other adults on her head, face, and back. She had her head yanked around by her hair, causing damage to her neck. In spite of holding a master's degree in Applied Linguistics, Jolie worked on a farm (when she was punished for a wrongdoing), in a cosmetics store, in a supermarket and in a salon all operated by Grace Road Group.

While in the salon she was required to provide massage services, which led to frequent inappropriate comments and requests from the men who came in for this service, hoping for more "service" than she was willing to provide. When she talked to her superior about this, she was told her "demons" were attracting these men and giving them these ideas.

After eight years of living this way, she one day decided she had enough. She could not go on living a life of isolation from her family and friends from the "outside world," numb and exhausted from years of work without even one day off.

So, she escaped. Literally she escaped, walking on shaking legs through the parking lot and leaving absolutely everything but her phone and passport behind. She walked along the front of the building where the salon was located and was able to jump in the car of a friend who was waiting down the street to help her escape. She laid down in the back seat until she could stop sobbing and felt safe enough to sit up.

When I arrived in Fiji two days later, she was still afraid to be seen in public, as she was sure someone from the cult would see her and abduct her. We immediately began working with the US Embassy to obtain a US passport for her 4-year-old daughter who was still undocumented. We also hired a local attorney to begin the process of filing for custody of her children. We were also working with child welfare, immigration and law enforcement. We were at the police station when we received word that the children and their father had flown out in the middle of the night and were now hiding in South Korea, unbeknownst to their mother.

As of this writing, we have hired an attorney in Seoul who is working on locating the children and will help with filing for custody. This required a retainer of $10,000. That's just the beginning. We are also still working with Fiji on the criminal charges and will have to hire an attorney there, as well. Once the children are located, Jolie will need to fly to South Korea and stay for an extended time while the court system works through the custody issue. Furthermore, once a criminal trial is set in Fiji, she will also need to go back to Fiji in order to testify against her abusers.

This account is being set up to help offset the cost of the legal fees, the travel fees, and the money required to set up a new life for herself and her children once she has gained custody. As a family we are doing all we can to support her, but this is bigger than we can manage and so we are asking for your help.

We understand not everyone can give monetarily. Prayers are also deeply appreciated and needed as my sister learns how to live a "normal" life and support her children who will struggle with this big change. We thank you in advance for both the prayers and the finances.