After New Hope, I was sent next door to Paradise Cove. I was 16 for a few months, and saw what happened to New Hope. I herd that the programs were the same, and that Paradise cove was worse. Two nice young white adults came to pick me up and brought me to Apia. I spent the night there with a Samoan who said he handled the Security for Paradise Cove. I said ok, I hadn’t, ate real food for a while, and he had thin sliced pork, which is high eaten over there. Plus, I stayed in a house. The next day I got drove all the back to the same place just one Village over. There they made me shave off my beard with a razor. They kept saying your going to be good right? Shortly after I walked down a steep walk way down a cliff, to what looked like another concentration camp like place next to water where we can’t run away. I thought if it really gets bad ill just swim my way to freedom. I spent most the time in the water anyway, maybe ill get back to the village that was so nice to me before though they were at war with the village i was in, and Mario Castro had to run for his life one day because he was probably, doing something they didn’t like. I find out later he married a 14 year old girl. Anyways, This place looks like its all boys, boys ran and boys boys boys, i was scared because i knew that the Samoans like to watch us fight, they made me do it before, but now theres more of us. I quickly got settled in and i was told not to associate with anyone. My first introduction of the small house i was affiliated with had about 8 kids. They said don’t touch any of our stuff or it would be bad for me. I figured the Samoans told them to say that and i found out later they did. The food again was light, peanut butter and honey, eggs, salt and bread. There was no hot water, and the bathrooms were guarded by other boys, who i find out later where fighting with people. It was sad to find out that kids had medical problems. I was still getting over jungle rot on my left foot toes. I had special dole medical soap i used sparingly in a plastic bag with a rubber squeeze tube, people tried fighting over to use, though i never did let anyone. One kid in my house had scabies all over his body, all over. A lot had dental problems, a few kids were putting stuff in there ears to try and get a medical ride to Apia. One time they did do something for us, they got propane filled for the showers, everyone were so happy they used up all the hot water and people got burns from propane because it was empty, thats what i was told. Then i got a hair but the way the Samoan did it was he brought in the kitchen and said do it. I had a feeling this man doesn’t know what he’s doing. I could hear the shaking in his voice, like he didn’t like what was going on around there. One time i was doing something an dome kids came up and said don’t mess with us because you don’t know where were from. These kids were from the east coast like most them there. I was from Southern California, but i was not even afraid of the Samoans. These same kids said one night we will stab you with long nails, i was guessing 16 penny nails. and i was right they came at me 3 of them i took the nails from them and could’ve crippled them if i wanted to. minutes later 5 or more samoans come in the dorm we were all sleeping in, and none of the other kids made a sound. They said we’ve been watching you and we don’t like it. i thought if they were watching and I’ve never seen those Samoans before, could this have been an attempt on my life. Then i met the higher level kids. It was like party the fallowing days, because these kids were a lot larger than the rest of us. And, guess who they put with them? Me. Over to the next beach i went. There they put kids in small cubicles. Robert Louis Stevensen tapes and nothing more than sitting in the same chair and staring at the same thing all day. One day a higher up Samoan came and got me a beating room. Scared the hell out me he said he was going to kill me. And i actually believed him. He asked me what happened with the other kids that night and i told him. He interrogated me probably for a couple of days. I was again in solitary confinement. and if i was to do anything i would be severely beaten if not killed. Because my family, my country did not want me because of how bad i was. The same kid comes up to my little one man one chair house, the one that said you don’t know where I’m from? I thought how does this kid even get to walk around? So I sat in this little house in a chair for a couple more days, then i was sent back to the book on tape class room. Samoans the whole time where saying how the mormon book was the only way to reverse what I’ve done to myself. and i went along with it. At the same time i was still hoping my mother would show up. Good thing I had a couple secret meetings with US Ambassador, the month before i got here. told him to get information to my mother what was happening and to come and get me. I knew the lyes and deceptions were fed to her that everything was great that we were doing all kinds of things. Going on field trips, staying in houses going to school, eating well, the lie was we weren’t talking to the villages the truth was we were kind of depending on them. Though they couldn’t do much the funds were next to nothing. and they were told by there own to abuse us mentally and physically if they wanted to. I was told a group of boys one day escaped made it to a place on the island could recall and got to a village were they were so severely beaten a couple kids were even murdered. I truly thought this was it for me at 16 and this was it for me and that i was told that i was not going to make it to my 18th birthday, because i was going to do something bad enough for them to end my life. And that America did not want us back and that anything is going to happen to us and that theres nothing anybody could do because we were sent to a country by our parents, so that Samoans would end our lives to lessen the burden we put on them, because they know what kind of people we are going to be when we grow up and now also. I was there a month i found the higher level kids were planning something. i thought that was getting kind of weird. I planned on killing some of the kids, which ones when they starting doing what they were telling me they were going to do. Hurt me, also telling me they didn’t even know what it would be it would be so bad. I was a trained fighter mind you. But they did not know that and i was not about to tell anyone, all i knew is that the day was going to come and not even i is going to know if i would make out it alive. The pain of knowing that every day and the paranoia, watching my back having hazing going on, with people a lot larger than me was enough to make someone snap. I was there a month. I got sent up to the main office one day were a man from california the program director got fearlessly in my face and said are you going to do anything, repeatedly again and again, for a good few hours, i thought he’s really trying to scare me. i weighed probably 160 pounds. I just looked like pure muscle. i think the stress did something to me. Finally a couple days later my mother showed up. I was counting the days when she would though i didn’t know if the embassy got threw. The man in the office was beside himself i think with fear and anger at himself. I just looked at him and didn’t say a word. Like what i normally did i think it scared people i did that. They knew i was thinking but about what they could only imagine in there minds. Thank you I’m sorry i didnt proof read most of it. It is a brief description of one month in samoa. I wrote this before i wrote what happened at New Hope the 5 months before
DECLARATION UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY
PURSUANT TO 28 USCA 1746
I,Armando Pshebelski declare and state as follows:
Name of Program:
Paradise Cove
Location of Program:
Samoa
Period of Internment (MM/YY to MM/YY)
04/98 to 05/98
I give WWASPSurvivors permission to use this statement. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on(date: MM/DD/YY):
04/26/2015
