429. New Hope Academy (Samoa)

Related to the previous entry is New Hope Academy (Samoa) which were located on Samoa.

As it was the case with the previous entry, it was also a scam and the operation of the faclity ended up i various lawsuits. The person close to the management got 10 years in prison.

Also 5 teenagers was suddenly stranded in a foreign country without contact to any adults who could help them. In the end the U.S. Consulate in Samoa aided them to a shelter.

It couldn’t have been a fun place to be as a teenager.

Sources:

• Former BYU Football Player disappears (Scrutinized youth camp chief ‘took off’) (Mormons today)
• Man with isle ties gets 10 years in Texas (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
• 5 Stranded When Utah Firm Closes (Pound Pup Legacy – exposing the dark side of adoption)

428. Aloha Youth Academy

In 1999 parents suddenly got the option of placing their children at Aloha Youth Academy in Samoa so they could use their time on other things than being a parent. Little did the parents know that the Academy which marketed ifself as the cure for almost everything possible was a scam as so many likewise facilities in Samoa was.

So 7 minors were sent to the Academy on for it to close down a short while later leaving the parent no options but to take their children home several thousand dollars poorer.

It didn’t sound like a fun place to be as a teenager.

Sources:

• Scrutinized youth camp chief ‘took off’ (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
• Families sue founder of defunct reform camps in Samoa, Laie (Pound Pop Legacy – exposing the dark side of adoption)

75. Prague

Normally I write about boarding schools, wilderness programs and other places teenagers can be sent to. In this case I will write about a town I have been to recently. It was marketed as a place to binge drink so 12,000 Danish students were lured to the town with promise of cheap drinks, hot girls and a lot of party.

What we did experience was a town which didn’t like tourists. I guess that the massive invasion of Danish students caused some xenophobia among the citizens but the entire concept of the Czech Republic being for teenagers was a scam. It was as we had been detained at some worn down second rated boarding school like the Morava Academy the authorities in the Czech Republic closed due to suspicion of abuse.

It is a town with nothing to offer beside what we was promised and even that they could not manage to put together. Prague is not a place for teenagers.