Passage by Overington Caroline

Author:Overington, Caroline [Overington, Caroline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Australia
Publisher: Random House Australia
Published: 2012-02-29T13:00:00+00:00

‘But what were you doing all day?’ That’s also of interest to people who know I spent time in a commune. ‘It can’t have been all prayers and chores’ – but it was, in fact, all prayers and chores.

There was no electricity on the property, except in those houses occupied by the Leader, who wasn’t always there. As such, much energy was spent keeping warm in winter, collecting wood, collecting eggs from the hens, washing clothes in the river, and cooking food over open fires.

I pottered around in a brown tunic and grew a beard (and my toenails).

I didn’t question any part of the routine for several years. I suppose that was because my new life suited me. I hadn’t been able to decide on a path – now I was upon one and the need for decision making had been taken from me. I wouldn’t have to worry about finding a job and keeping it, or borrowing money to buy a house, or meeting a woman who would want to be my wife. I need only follow the Leader – Brother Ruhamah – who made all the rules and would take care of everyone, forever.

As a Young Brother, I was warned that my faith would be tested, not only by my own thoughts – Can we leave yet, Paul? Because sitting around eating garbage and talking jibberish all day is getting a bit boring – but by crude tests the Elders would set for me.

I failed the first one. Brother Yoav got sick – or at least I thought he did. He was coughing up what looked like blood. I knew from Bible studies that I was supposed to sit with him and pray, but I sought out Brother Dawid instead, and asked whether I could walk across the paddock to the phone box to call a local doctor.

Brother Dawid avoided my eyes but agreed, and so I set off, making my way gingerly across the potholes, feeling a little spooked – it was the first time in some weeks I’d spent any time alone – until I was stopped, part way to the highway, by two Elder Brothers, who castigated me.

‘How little faith you have!’ they said, chasing me back towards the commune where Brother Yoav was sitting upright and apparently well, and ready to join in my scolding.

Brother Ruhamah, I was told, would not be pleased to learn of my transgression, but Brother Ruhamah was less of a presence at the commune than I’d been led to expect. It’s true what people say: he didn’t often sleep in wooden bunks with his followers; he had a penthouse apartment on the Gold Coast, where he spent a significant amount of his time. Leaving the commune was, it seemed, no big deal for Brother Ruhamah.

It is well known that he forbids his followers from having any contact with their families, including their own parents. He justifies this cruelty by linking his teaching, wrongly, to a passage in the Bible:

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