and it just stopped me in my tracks. it made me remember everything i had been through and it made me realize i could not sail on in my life pretending i had this crazy story. so i redirected everything i had learned trying to help others. so i work with footsteps very closely and try to advocate on behalf of the people. memoir a writer and my will be released in 2014. katie: and you re married? been married for five years, i have a beautiful little girl. [cheers and applause] katie: very beautiful. yes. katie: and leah, do you still consider yourself jewish? oh, absolutely. it took a long time for me to consider what that would mean if i wasn t going to be ultraorthodox, because i was taught if you re not, you re not jewish. yes, even though i m not religious, culturally, i m jewish. katie: a pleasure to meet you. thank you very, very much.
and i looked at him and i said i can t do it anymore, i need to get away. so i got in the van and i drove out to my brother s house. he s not a part of the community anymore. stayed there for a few days. contacted my sister. katie: and flora, you had tried to help ruby leave on several occasions prior to that and were unsuccessful. ruby is the reason i came back and started fighting, and i gave her my word i would do everything i could to keep her safe. before i could get to her she disappeared and i have been looking for her for 12 years. katie: you have six children. i have six children. katie: and your first child you had at 16. was it difficult to leave knowing that it was unclear what would happen to your kids? yes, it was. katie: but ultimately you did get custody of them and they re with you now? cheers and applause]
my life. it was, completely, completely devastating. katie: michael jenkins is here, he s a social worker, and the program director for foot steps, that s an organization that helps men and women explore the world beyond the ultra religious communities in which they were raised. michael, when you hear her story, does it sound familiar to you? it sounds very familiar. of course, there s unique parts of this story that her lea s story, but there are also parts that are common to the women that are contacting footsteps and coming in and talking to us. katie: what is footsteps actually do? we actually provide a safe place for women to come and men to come. we provide groups, we provide individual counseling, we refer out, we connect with other community groups. but the main thing we provide is a safe community of people that have also left. so people are learning from one
we have very limited amount of prosecutions coming out of these communities because the flds have their own police force. so it s hard to get a report made. katie: there have been some convictions i know in the flds compound in texas. for things ranging from sexual assault to rape. do you think the authorities are beginning to crack down on some of these crimes? you know, when they raided that compound in texas, the c.p.s. caseworkers were told to shut their mouths and send the children home. and the authorities in utah and arizona have just sat on their hands and done nothing. katie: what was the psychological impact for you, being molested, as you claim by your dad, at 8 and raped at 12? you know, i used to be very angry. i have learned that my anger was not so much at my father, but at my mother. for failing to protect me. for refusing to protect me.
katie: i know that you say you felt skeptical about the flds community even as a little girl. when did you start feeling that abuse helped abuse helped with. my maternal grandmother believed in the group and she taught me to believe in myself as a person, and it wasn t based on who owned me. to that was a taboo teaching a family. so that self worth that my grandmother instilled in me made me question. and the questions never stopped. katie: you say the abuse helped, and obviously i m sure that opened your eyes. your father molested you when you were just 8 years old. that s the first memory i have of being molested. katie: do you think it happened before that? it could. it may, it may not have. there is a historical prevalance of abuse, sexual abuse within the community. katie: you were raped by your