Netflix made a program on the violent Bhagwan cult of the 1980s. Turns out that his former number 2 now lives in Switzerland. The person in charge for practical things like poisoning people the guru wanted harmed... is running a care home in Basel Land.


https://www.theguardian.com/lifeands...agwan-rajneesh


I'll be honest: I am surprised that a person with a criminal past is allowed into this sort of position.


I know its not Friday... but would you have an issue sending relatives to a care home run by a former cultist who still seems more than just apologetic about it?

I found an article from 2014 reporting how the locals were sceptical about Sheela opening an institution without any proper training.

https://m.tagesanzeiger.ch/articles/...da8b6960000029 (German!)

I, too, can’t understand how she managed to get permission or where her financing comes from.

Edit: Here’s their Facebook account talking about their Wohngemeinschaft. https://m.facebook.com/wohngemeinsch...?locale2=de_DE

And here’s their website: http://www.matrusaden.ch/philosophie-our-story/

He obviously didn't have to run the gauntlet of the "quota system" used to select and filter pesky immigrants. I always thought there's a lot of hypocrisy here, now I have the best proof ever.

Sheela, a woman, is a Swiss American born in India (according to Wikipedia)

According to the Tagesanzeiger link is she married to a former member of the cult who happens to be Swiss.


Honestly: Its a bizarre story full of unbelievable details. Immigration is the last topic to talk about in the context.

Read about this several months ago:

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/wild-wi...abled/44037728

Tom

When I watched this documentary, I had thought about warning my fellow members here, but worried about getting poisoned by this evil woman.

When she found out she was going to be extradited again from Germany, she opportunistically married a Swiss man and somehow ended up taking care of others who can't unfortunately take care of themselves. I believe in redemption, but it seems this lady must maintain power and control at all times and is very dangerous to these innocent people in her care. She has a history of corruption, attempted murder and severe emotional and physical abuse. She should be stopped! I am shocked that she is allowed to operate this business in Switzerland.

I was always under the impression she was a punk rocker.

"Matrusaden – it means “home of mother” – is a residential care home for people with mental illnesses."

One has to wonder what being in a facility run by someone with that background would do to a healthy person's mind, let alone someone with a mental illness, and whether there are any parallels with the state of mind of people who undergo brainwashing in a cult. The situation sounds rather unhealthy.

On the Netflix documentary, I thought the older Sheela came across as quite charming and very with-it. I kinda liked her.. but then maybe I was being brainwashed

They made lots of noise and had an awful lot of sex in that cult.. bet those folks are all happy and well-adjusted in their old age.

Saw a video about the poisoning a couple of days ago on YT ("The US' second largest bio-terrorism attack in history" - talk about click-bait-y titles).

I wondered where she was now (but didn't bother to check wikipedia - I wasn't that interested).

Now I know ;-)

Ah, well. She did her time, didn't she?

Presumably, this all happened long ago. In the interview, she appears a lot more mellow than in the YT video, TBH.

Not sure if I'd send relatives there - but OTOH, finding a decent facility that isn't understaffed with overworked and burned-out caregivers isn't that easy.
Her's might just be the lesser evil.

According to the TA article is the key difference that she doesn't believe in formal education of caregivers.

As it happens have I done that job without proper training thanks to the German Zivildienst… the alternative at my time to the military draft. And I know that if I ever get disabled I would rather have trained nurses around me... from first hand experience of not knowing how to react to medical symptoms.

Which one now?

I posted a guardian article. TA is Tagesanzeiger. Was in the second post of the thread...

If she doesn't believe in formal education is one thing, if the state which allows her to run whatever facility doesn't believe in formal education is a whole lot of another matter. These things are or should be regulated. Ask a third grader what do they think - is it better to have trained staff when caring for elderly or not, and you'll get the picture of how ridiculous the whole affair is.

I know you did. The question was: Which one bothers you? The criminal past or the lack of education? Or do you just not want her to go on in life?

As to the education: When she started, it was not law to have a certain education. When it did become the law, she did everything to meet the demand. But somehow people like to over-read these things?

Ok, simply put: I have no problem if a person commits a crime and later gets back on track with their lives. But I would not hire a former thief to sell jewelry or make an ex-addict a pharmacist.


I also don't think you need a college degree for everything. You can take great care with learning things on the job. The one thing where formal education is essential is everything medical - giving medication and recognizing symptoms.


This lady did not just poison people, attempted murder and what not else... she secretly drugged thousands of homeless with drugs intended to be used by professionals to treat psychosis. To keep them quiet and under control in the sects ranch. Does this sound like the sort of person who should be responsible for mentally disabled people?


And in that light does the "I think education is overrated" line sound way worse as well: Its coming from somebody who mixed strong psychopharmaca with alcohol and gave it to thousands without their knowledge...

To be fair, she posted an open job position for a qualified carer on her FB account. It may be that she's not qualified but some of her staff are.

I did not write that anywhere. LOL.

Having her medically educated would obviously not take away the basic fear.

It's not that I don't understand this fear. There is just no simple yes/no answer to the question in the thread-title, I think.
I also think that she will probably be observed closer than many other care facilities - which ended up in the news. So maybe her's is even safer?