Incubated since the age of 2Quote from 'Meanwhile in Hawaii':
"Only Koviak and Rama Ranson - who has become a vocal anti-Butler critic online - wished to be publicly named. The three other men requested anonymity, because they wish to remain in contact with relatives who still worship Butler, and they fear retaliation. Meanwhile in Hawai'i confirmed these three men’s identities, their parents’ status as Butler disciples, and their attendance at the SIF Baguio school.Ranson, also now 38, said his parents sent him and his younger brother to the boarding school in 1993, when he was 14 and his brother was 12. Ranson said he felt “a deep impulse to get out of that school immediately.”After two weeks at the school, Ranson said he exaggerated an illness to "escape," and he was eventually allowed to return home to his father. He said his younger brother, Sudama, stayed at the school, was raised by non-relative SIF members for the remainder of his childhood, and currently closely serves Butler in Kailua. Ranson now runs the website Rama Ranson vs. the Cult.
A third man, who attended the Baguio school for four years from ages 11 to 15, said, “We were taught to follow the teachings and words of Butler as if they were the holy divine word itself."“At first it was kinda’ cool to go to a new place," the man continued. "But soon I did not like it. We were always hungry. I almost committed suicide when I was there. I really wanted to go home but was told that my parents did not want me to go back home.”The students were taught that, “Fag**ts are taking over and doing disgusting things,” the man said. He also told Meanwhile in Hawai'i that he reported sexual abuse at the school and was accused by school leaders of lying.A fourth man who attended the school for a year in the early '90s said, “We were taught Butler and [his wife] Wai Lana were the only true messengers of god, and serving them would be the ultimate mission in life.”“They strip you of your individual identity,” the fourth man said while recalling his memories of the SIF boarding school. “They humiliate you, try to figure out your strengths and weaknesses. You weren’t allowed to talk to any outsiders. You were not allowed to contact your family.”“Everything we did there was in preparation for whatever they wanted us to do next."A fifth man who attended the school said he suffered from depression and addiction after realizing as an adult that his guru, Butler, did not love him. Three of the men also attended Mike and Carol Gabbard’s SIF school on O'ahu, the Ponomauloa School. They said the O'ahu school was “more mellow” than the Baguio school.
Children lived at home with their parents while attending the Gabbards' school, the men said, but they were still taught to worship Butler, and they were repeatedly exposed to sexually graphic, anti-homosexual material.One former student said the Gabbards were at times good teachers, but all school lessons essentially tied back to Butler’s philosophies.“I know nothing of U.S. history or world history,” one of the former students wrote in an email to Meanwhile in Hawai'i. “I am just now reading poems and books, like Catcher in the Rye, one would normally read in school.”The men say they believe SIF’s schools in the Philippines are now run more responsibly, but one man said there is still a “full on indoctrination school” in Bukidnon, Philippines, called Madana Mohana Academy. The school’s website advertises its service to underprivileged children from preschool through 12th grade. The school claims to be "non-sectarian." The website includes a quote by Jagad Guru (aka Butler) and refers to him as “a renowned philosopher and educator.” Children can be seen bowing in front of a large, framed picture of Butler in a video shared publicly on the Madana Mohana Academy’s Facebook page. Mike Gabbard did not respond to inquiries from Meanwhile in Hawai'i. Neither did the Science of Identity Foundation.
The men who attended the boys’ boarding school all say there was also a SIF girls’ boarding school in the Philippines at the time. They all believe current U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) attended the SIF girls’ school as a teenager in the '90s. Two of the men say they also grew up around Rep. Gabbard on O'ahu. Male and female students were strictly separated at the Philippines boarding schools, per Butler’s instructions, the men say.Rep. Gabbard has been strikingly evasive with journalists and constituents regarding her continued close discipleship with Butler and her teenage years in the Philippines. Though it seems she has removed mention of the experience from her official biography, several references to her “two years spent at an all-girls missionary academy in the Philippines” can still be found online.
A Nov. 2017 article on Rep. Gabbard in The New Yorker magazine also mentions that, “as a girl, she spent two years in the Philippines, at informal schools run by followers of Butler.” (It is also clear from the The New Yorker article that Rep. Gabbard was less than forthcoming with the reporter regarding her relationship with Butler and SIF.)
Other than these two mysterious years in the Philippines, Rep. Gabbard was home-schooled as a child by her parents. Her ex-husband, Eduardo Tamayo, is the nephew of Ramon “Toby” Tamayo, who ran the Baguio boys’ school. Her current husband, Abraham Williams, is also a second generation Butler disciple, as are at least three of her current, key Congressional staffers. At least two of her current staffers are first generation Butler disciples.Rep. Gabbard did not reply to multiple inquiries from Meanwhile in Hawai'i." End
quote.Source: [
www.hawaiifreepress.com]