Ex-Amish woman finding new life

HARLINGEN — Emma Gingerich reached the age of 15 without ever having used a computer or talking on a telephone.

She never studied history or geography; for her, the earth was still flat.

The life she faced, she said, would be simple: a minimal education, which stopped at eighth grade, and little contact with those outside her immediate community.

Her purpose in life, she said, would be to raise children and continue the static traditions that were passed down to her from previous generations in the Amish culture.

But just as Gingerich’s life seemed to be predetermined, she said that the seeds of knowledge and a different life began to grow in her mind. While other American girls her age may have anticipated proms or getting their driver’s license, Gingerich said she began planning to flee from a life she had not chosen and didn’t want.

Gingerich fled in 2006 at the age of 18, leading her across the country to a family in Harlingen.

Now 23, Gingerich has earned an associate’s degree from Texas State Technical College in Harlingen, and is currently attending Tarleton State University in Stephenville, where she is majoring in agricultural science.

She has written a still-unpublished book about her Amish upbringing. "My Life and Secrets: Amish Runaway Girl."

Gingerich was born in Ohio, but spent most of her teen years in Eagleville, Mo., where she was raised by her mother and father in the Swartzentruber Amish sect. She kept her plan to flee a secret from her parents, five brothers and eight sisters.

She left the sect shortly after she became a legal adult at age 18.

Gingerich said that women have few rights in the Amish community. She said her life was filled with chores like cleaning, tending to pastures and milking cows. Little emphasis was put on education and learning English. The Amish instead speak a dialect that is a combination of Dutch and German.

She said the Amish in her community were Anabaptist, and unlike some Amish communities, did not practice Rumspringa, a period in adolescence when girls and boys between 16 and 18 years old are given the option to experience the outside world. At this point in their lives, they can choose to stay in the community or leave it — along with their families.

"I wasn’t happy," Gingerich said. "I didn’t want to be a factory for raising kids."

Gingerich explained that she shared her desire to leave with a person who she identified only as having strong ties to the Amish community. That person, she said, advised her to wait until she was 18 years old before leaving her home.

Shortly after her 18th birthday, she did leave.

"My parents went to town, and I left them a little note that told them that I wasn’t happy where I was at."