Claire Ashman is a remarkable woman. She grew up in a sect, a break away from the Catholic Church, and at 18 married a man who would lead her into an even more sinister community. For almost a decade she lived by the whim of a man who called himself “Little Pebble”, the leader of a doomsday cult called The Order of St. Charbel. Forced to join the religious order, she took a vow of poverty, chastity and obedience and attended prayer sessions three times a day, It was the concern for the safety of her eight young children that eventually saw her bravely flee with her kids from the secretive cult , led by convicted rapist and pedophile William Kamm, on the NSW south coast. After escaping the cult, Claire had no idea about the outside world or how to survive on her own. But survive she did. Claire went on to forge an amazing life, is an author, a coach and has delivered no less that four Ted X talks. Claire joins host, Sandy Lowres, to tell her story. This is Part 1 of Claire’s remarkable journey of survival. (*Note: We made a conscious decision to have Claire’s story told in two parts so that she could tell it fully).
