Nearly a decade after she escaped life in a Hutterite colony, Sheryl Waldner feels called to put down roots in Thunder Bay.
Waldner and her sister Darlene thought they'd grown up shy. They weren't allowed to sing, travel or pursue education. As young women, they trudged along the path set out for them, including cooking, gardening and cleaning.
Some of the smallest details of their lives, including the shade of their clothing, was subject to the leadership's approval. The highest aspiration they could have, they say, was to get married.
The aspiration they grew instead was to be free.
Biblical principles were a part of everyday life in the Manitoban colony, but it was steeped in the Hutterite tradition of community service and faith in hard work.
A Christian who delivered groceries to the local store first exposed them to a different interpretation; one that spiritually liberated them before they ever set foot in mainstream society.
"People from the outside came in secretly and shared with us about Jesus Christ and how you can have a personal relationship with him," Sheryl explains.
"(Local leaders) would say living in community is what Jesus is about, being a Hutterite, working hard and doing what the leaders tell you to do. That was being a good Christian. It was so cold. When we heard about Jesus from the outside, it gave us a reason to live and we pursued that."
The community began to ostracize the sisters for their new beliefs.
They left the colony in 2006 with their brother and three other women. They connected with three more exiles from a colony in the United States.
Five years of counselling helped to build their confidence and adapt them to the outside world.
Then the nine each penned a chapter in a book to tell their stories.
"It wasn't as simple as, 'I don't like it here.' We had to have help from the outside," Darlene says.
"Even the clothes we had were Hutterite clothes. We didn't fit in in the outside world. They have their own language that's not read or written. It's almost a cultish language, so we had a difficult time expressing ourselves."
They say the book's reception in the Hutterite community was mixed but conceded some of that feedback was hostile.
They hadn't meant to offend. Readers from all kinds of abused and dominated backgrounds thanked them for telling their story.
There were also questions from mainstream North Americans the writers came to realize they hadn't answered. The group came together again and wrote Since We Told the Truth, a collaborative sequel on how they've adapted to life on the outside and what they've learned.
"I'd learned to work hard but we didn't have a clue what that meant," Sheryl says.
"You have to have wise management running a business. It's not just working hard. We had a cleaning business and the guys were doing construction. You learn how to relate to people and what your labour's worth. It was very fulfilling."
With new-found responsibility for the outcome of their hard work, the nine offer a unique criticism of authoritarian socialism.
"Everything was provided. You can grow old and you'll always be taken care of. We realized when we left, that was their way of controlling us," Darlene explains, adding they had no possessions when they left the Hutterites.
"I want to earn what I have instead of being in the colony where everything's provided and we didn't learn responsibility. I didn't appreciate things like I do now."
Darlene married and took on American citizenship.
Sheryl and her brother moved to Thunder Bay in January.
"The Nine" will be speaking at the Waverley Library on Monday at 6:30 p.m.
