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	'''Christina Krüsi''' was born July 15, 1968 in ], the second of six children. In 1966, Krusi's parents moved the family to the ] of ] to work for the American Christian Missionary Society, SIL/Wycliffe and translate the bible into the local Chiquitano and other Indian dialects. The base for the mission was located in in the country's northeast corner.		'''Christina Krüsi''' was born July 15, 1968 in ], the second of six children. In 1966, Krusi's parents moved the family to the ] of ] to work for the American Christian Missionary Society, SIL/Wycliffe and translate the bible into the local Chiquitano and other Indian dialects. The base for the mission was located in in the country's northeast corner.

	In 1979, the family returned to Switzerland where Krusi completed her Swiss education requirements, later married and moved to the ] of ] (returning two years later due to civil unrest). In 2003, Krusi, and several other childhood friends with similar stories in Bolivia, approached Wycliffe/SIL with the claim they had "failed in their responsibility to protect." Several of the women received a formal apology and new protective measures were installed following the investigation. Krusi went on to complete two Master's Degrees and develop her art, music and literary work. She also became a consultant in conflict management and motivational speaker, published her memoirs, ''Paradise Was My Hell'' (], July 2013), and created the ''Christina Krusi Foundation'' for child protection from violence and abuse through public awareness.<ref>http://www.moneyhouse.ch/en/u/christina_krusi_foundation_CH-020.7.001.889-9.htm</ref> In April 2014, ''Swiss Television'' debuted a documentary of her life. She remains in Zurich, Switzerland with her family.		In 1979, the family returned to Switzerland where Krusi completed her Swiss education requirements, later married and moved to the ] of ] (returning two years later due to civil unrest). In 2003, Krusi, and several other childhood friends with similar stories in Bolivia, approached Wycliffe/SIL with the claim they had "failed in their responsibility to protect." Several of the women received a formal apology and new protective measures were installed following the investigation. Krusi went on to complete two Master's Degrees and develop her art, music and literary work. She also became a consultant in conflict management and motivational speaker, published her memoirs, ]</nowiki>, July 2013)], and created the ''Christina Krusi Foundation'' for child protection from violence and abuse through public awareness.<ref>http://www.moneyhouse.ch/en/u/christina_krusi_foundation_CH-020.7.001.889-9.htm</ref> In April 2014, ''Swiss Television'' debuted a documentary of her life. She remains in Zurich, Switzerland with her family.

Revision as of 21:20, 18 November 2014

Christina Krüsi
File:Christina Krusi Speaker 2014 wiki small.jpg Krusi - speaking engagement Christina Krusi, Author
Born	(1968-07-15) July 15, 1968 (age 56) Zurich, Switzerland
Occupation	Author, Artist
Spouse	Roland Weber (2nd marriage)
Children	2 (Raphael and Timon)
Website
http://www.christina-kruesi.com/ & (Artist website: www.ckruesi.ch/ )

Christina Krüsi was born July 15, 1968 in Zurich, Switzerland, the second of six children. In 1966, Krusi's parents moved the family to the Amazon rainforest of Bolivia to work for the American Christian Missionary Society, SIL/Wycliffe and translate the bible into the local Chiquitano and other Indian dialects. The base for the mission was located in Tumi Chucua in the country's northeast corner.

In 1979, the family returned to Switzerland where Krusi completed her Swiss education requirements, later married and moved to the Ivory Coast of Africa (returning two years later due to civil unrest). In 2003, Krusi, and several other childhood friends with similar stories in Bolivia, approached Wycliffe/SIL with the claim they had "failed in their responsibility to protect." Several of the women received a formal apology and new protective measures were installed following the investigation. Krusi went on to complete two Master's Degrees and develop her art, music and literary work. She also became a consultant in conflict management and motivational speaker, published her memoirs, Paradise Was My Hell (], July 2013), and created the Christina Krusi Foundation for child protection from violence and abuse through public awareness. In April 2014, Swiss Television debuted a documentary of her life. She remains in Zurich, Switzerland with her family.

Early Life (Bolivia-2001)

Krusi's family journeyed to the Bolivian rainforest under the guidance of Wycliffe Switzerland, (one of 105 independent Wycliffe organizations within the Wycliffe Global Alliance umbrella of SIL International). Wycliffe works in conjunction with local organizations "for Bible translation in Africa, Asia and Latin America," and in Krusi's case, partnered with SIL International, "a faith-based nonprofit organization committed to serving language communities worldwide as they build capacity for sustainable language development" (4,400+ staff in 100 countries).

Krusi alleges in her memoirs (refer below) that she suffered physical abuse while in the Bolivian jungle, starting at six years old by pedophile missionaries who raped her and four other classmates. They were then marked (cut) on both knees which "declared (them) fair game...sex slaves." Krusi, and 16 other children who also bore scars, were raped repeatedly, "...before piano lessons...after school...during Sunday school...often in the public toilets of the missionary village and sometimes drugged her with ether." She kept her experiences, however, secret from her parents and, in 1979 when she was 11 years old, the family returned to Switzerland. At the age of 13, Krusi recorded her experiences from Bolivia in a diary, and discussed it with her mother at 16 years old. During the following four years (1980–84), Krusi finished middle school in Diessenhofen, Switzerland and then attended art school at Stuttgart/DE and St. Gallen for two years before receiving teacher training at Amriswil. The same year (1987 and now 19 years old), she married a man five years her senior who was also from the Christian community. Together they had two children (sons Raphael and Timon). In 1992, the family moved to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire for two years where Krusi worked as an art teacher and illustrator. However, with the threat of civil war in 1994, they returned to Switzerland. For the next three years (1994-97), Krusi became an adult education drawing teacher as well as head mistress for the local Marthalen Senior High School in Zurich. She also developed her art and education, taking sculpture and anatomy courses in Schaffhausen (Switzerland)and Stuttgart, Germany), and attending the Vocational School for Design in Zurich.

Krusi Reveals Abuse in Bolivia (2002-06)

In 2002, and now in her mid-30s, Krusi's marriage ended but she continued to participate in art/poetry/music projects and exhibitions (and continuing as head mistress at Marthalen High School). She also began efforts to publicly address the experiences of abuse she suffered in Bolivia, including collaborating with friends from Bolivia who were on the same quest, and who, along with Krusi, were put under tremendous pressure by the abusers not to talk to anybody or very bad things would happen. In 2003, Krusi and group approached Wycliffe/SIL about the abuses and met with SIL in 2004 at an arranged meeting in the United States. In turn, SIL commenced an independent review which confirmed in 2005 the validity of the abuses. In turn, the report led to Wycliffe/SIL releasing a formal apology to the victims (including regrets that the alleged offenders could not be prosecuted due to time-barred restrictions and some perpetrators had died). The review also encouraged policy changes for stricter measures to protect children whereby Wycliffe/SIL began (and continues) to work closely with MIRA, a Swiss-based organization for sustainable prevention of sexual exploitation.

Private Accomplishments (2007-12)

Between 2007-12, and after leaving her position at Marthalen High School in 2006, Krusi completed two Masters Degrees (Management Culture from Zurich University of Applied Sciences (AW Zurich) in 2007 and Educational Management at Zurich University of Teacher Education (PH Zurich - as part of the MAS) in 2012). She also assumed a management position for a kindergarten-to-senior school in Winterthur, Switzerland, as well as, introduced MAP Magazine (Winterthur), implemented an addiction and violence prevention program (QUIMS: Quality In Multicultural Schools) for the Winterthur Töss School District, and expand both her consulting work and sculpture/painting.

Memoirs (Book), Krusi Foundation, Documentary (2013-14)

In 2013, Krusi published her biography, Paradise Was My Hell, which detailed her abuse in Bolivia and events that followed. Wycliffe's response was supportive but cautious, noting for example, "the accusation of the ritual child murder was not included in the studies from the 2003 review because the facts insufficient... changed with the release of Christina Krüsi's book. Our partner organization is currently working in this regard to organize an independent investigation," and also, "Christina reported from her memory of what she has experienced in her childhood. For this purpose, we can and will not comment. The media reports until now largely without consultation with us." Wycliffe also gave assurances that its Wycliffe Switzerland branch was not to be held responsible for abuses in Bolivia.

Also in 2013, Krusi co-founded (with supporter Gudrun Ruttkowski) the Christina Krüsi Foundation for the protection of children. The Foundation supports people and projects that raise public awareness - "opens society's eyes" - to the issues of child abuse (the Foundation receives a portion of Krusi's book and art sales). In addition, Krusi completed a children's book. Along with opening the Foundation, Krusi received a Swiss Federal Diploma in Conflict Management and Mediation (ZHAW) in 2013 which broadened her consulting to include lectures and seminars in German and English on resilience, strategy building, motivational training and creative solutions.

In April 2014, an international documentary of Krusi's life was filmed and aired by Swiss Television (SRF1) In turn, Wycliffe addressed its concerns about the documentary, including "We congratulate Christina Krüsi for courage to face the trauma of her childhood" and their disappointment that the film did not address why the violators were not punished" (due to time restrictions and deaths - refer above). Wycliffe also condemned the abusers: "Such atrocities can not be done in the name of God. The name of God has been abused by the perpetrators as an excuse." Also important, Wycliffe discusses their efforts to improve policies in order that Krusi's experiences will not be repeated.

Krusi currently resides in Winterthur, Switzerland, a suburb of Zurich, with her second husband and two grown children.

References

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