The cruelty and abuse Gloria endured as a child made her determined to love and protect other people
All names and identifying details have been changed.
Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
For reasons she has never understood, Gloria lived for seven years in a convent that was a children’s home.
She gives an account of cruelty by sadistic nuns, and one in particular who also sexually abused her.
Gloria was five years old when she was sent to the convent. She remembers her parents taking her to a big red brick building with a large wooden door, and that she was wearing a duffle coat that was much too big for her.
One of the nuns, Sister A, took her to a large dormitory and showed her which bed she would sleep in. She noticed that her case was already there.
She remembers being upset and that Sister A scolded her and said that she would do as she was told.
Sister A particularly picked on Gloria.
Once when she was caught talking she was put in a cupboard for hours, and possibly days. She had no food and was given a bucket to use as a toilet.
One winter’s day, Sister A dragged Gloria by the hair to the washing area. The nun filled the sink with cold water, took off the girl’s clothes, placed her in the water and started to touch her genitals.
Gloria pleaded with her to stop. Sister A told her shut up, and called her ‘You evil girl’.
She remembers the janitor coming in, and putting a towel around her, which made Sister A angry. But even after this intervention, the nun continued to sexually abuse Gloria regularly.
After this, Gloria became very ill and her mother came to visit, saying she was going to take her home. Gloria remembers feeling ‘so happy’ about this that she gave her toys to the other children. But her happiness was short-lived. She did not go home and she was not allowed to have her toys back.
She only remembers being allowed out once in the five years she spent in the convent, but eventually Gloria did return home to her family. She had been close to her sibling before she left, but she says they never recovered their relationship.
About a year after she left the convent, Gloria endured another incident of sexual abuse. She was 13 years old and she had got a waitressing job in the summer holidays. The owner of the business locked her in his office, and told her she had to masturbate him before she got her wages. Afterwards, she ran away and never went back to the job.
Despite the harrowing experiences of her young life, Gloria is loving and compassionate in her personal and working life.
She says that when she had her children she vowed she would always protect them and never leave them. She qualified in a clinical profession and says she loved looking after people.
Her first marriage was unhappy and abusive but she has since remarried and her second husband is kind and supportive.