Serenity Pilgrim is the first of six women to testify against her former home - Gloriavale. Photo / George Heard
The first woman in a group of Gloriavale leavers claiming they were subjected to a life of servitude and forced labour says there were two options in the community - "work or get in trouble".
"We had no choices … none, we went to work every day," said Serenity Pilgrim.
"You just sucked it up … There was never an option of being sick … you just got used to it and that's what you did.'
Pilgrim is one of six women taking their case to the Employment Court seeking a ruling that they were employees and not volunteers during their time at the secretive West Coast Christian community.
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Pilgrim was born at Gloriavale and spent her life there with her parents and siblings until she was 16.
"As far as I can remember, I always had to work," she said.
"I always had jobs."
She said she worked at least 90 hours a week while at Gloriavale and her parents "had no say" in what she did there.
She said work included helping with dinner, washing and cleaning and had to be done before and after school.
"We would always be up around 4.30am or earlier to complete the jobs that were assigned to us before breakfast," Pilgrim said.
"We had to keep working after dinner if we didn't get the jobs finished.
"As I got older there was more work, more responsibilities, you were expected to grow up, be an adult… even if you don't think you have to handle it, you just have to do it.
"There was no downtime, no time for me to do what I wanted to do … There was just work all the time."
Pilgrim said girls had constant chores to do outside their "teams" - groups of women tasked with various domestic work in the laundry, kitchen and the like.
There was no "downtime" and even if she did have any time off, she had nothing to do.
"Because everyone else was working," she said.
"I was expected to look after younger siblings because mum was always working … that was my downtime.
"If I wasn't working then mum would be … there was always a baby so I always had to look after the baby because mum was working. I guess that was my downtime.
"I looked forward to having to look after my siblings because that was a little break."
Pilgrim explained that breaks were unheard of during the working day and she often went without food and water for most of the day.
She was simply too busy doing her chores to stop and eat or drink.
The women running the kitchen calculated what each person needed to eat each day and it was "measured out".
There were three set meals a day from Monday to Saturday and nothing was provided in between.
On Sunday people aged 5 and older were not given any food until the evening community meal.
"Half of the time I did not get proper meals because I had to work … when I left Gloriavale at age 16 I weighed 38kg. Two years after I had put on 15kg," said Pilgrim.
She said there was little to no education for girls and most "scraped through" until they could work full time.
"I had no option … It was just expected I would leave school and go and work on the team," she said.
"They pushed us through our schooling so we could get onto the teams as soon as possible - there was no other option.
"I don't know of any girl asking to do anything other than what was expected."
Pilgrim said she wanted to be a midwife or teacher but was too scared to ask.
"I hinted at this to my grandfather … but I gave up … I just had to accept I would work on the teams every day.
"I remember I would go home to my mum and cry … I knew I did not have another option."
"You were scared of being told off because you were thinking on your own … I knew that asking for other jobs just wasn't an option."
Pilgrim said whenever she did hint at wanting to do other things she was lambasted by her team leaders and told "you should be happy, you should do what you are told".
Pilgrim spoke of "pretty much cleaning all day" through most of her life at the commune.
On "cooking days" when she was on the team tasked with feeding the 600-strong community she would work from 4am.
She recalled falling asleep at breakfast because she was so tired and not eating other than "shovelling down" lunch.
The day did not end until all of the community had been fed, the dishes washed and dried - mostly by hand - and the kitchen cleaned entirely ahead of the next day.
Pilgrim said if she was on "dishes" that is all she would do from 4am to 9pm - with no help.
Her feet and legs would be aching by the end and her shoes and socks sopping wet.
But, she said, that was normal life for Gloriavale girls.
Pilgrim also spoke of marriage in the community.
"You pretty much wait for someone to show up at your door and ask 'hey, will you marry me?"
"You didn't even know if you would like them.
"I knew I would be expected to have child after child - no choice.
"In Gloriavale your choices are all taken away from you, without you knowing."
Since leaving the community Pilgrim has finished her secondary education and trained as a beauty therapist.
She now works 40 hours a week, chooses how she spends her own money, gets breaks and time off.
"That would never be an option at Gloriavale, women are expected to cook, clean and have kids," she said.
"At Gloriavale I was always tired ... that was just how it was."
"If I had a choice there is no way I would have ever done what I was made to do ... that was just what you did ... I would definitely not call the work I did volunteering - because I had no choice ... I did not decide.
"We got our board and keep and we worked hard for it ... I worked because I was told to ... I had been born into Gloriavale and I didn't know anything different ... I just grew up knowing one day I would work and do all these hours and I would eventually get married and have children ... and that was just how it was going to be.
"It definitely was not freedom."
Pilgrim said her life now was dramatically different.
"I am happy because I am free and I can make my own decisions," she said.
Gloriavale's lawyer Philip Skelton QC suggested to Pilgrim that her evidence was "exaggerated and inaccurate".
However she stood by her account.
The court will also hear from leavers Anna Courage, Rose Standtrue, Crystal Loyal, Pearl Valour and Virginia Courage who alongside Pilgrim say they were effectively born into and kept in "servitude" - which is illegal in New Zealand - and had no power to choose their own path while living at the West Coast sect.
The women will give evidence that they had to work "extremely long" hours serving the 600-strong population, mainly in "deliberately gendered" jobs including "cooking, cleaning and washing clothes".
Some worked in the Gloriavale office and others as midwives.
The women claim they "did not have a choice" as to whether they worked or not" and the roles forced upon them were "expressly and deliberately gendered".
Furthermore, they were expected to "scrub, cook and clean for the rest of their life" or be "pregnant for the rest of their life".
"They were under the control of the shepherds and had no freedom," their lawyer Brian Henry told the court.
"They work, not chores - work ... and the hours get longer and harder.
"They scrub and they clean and they cook and that is their lives ... with the only (break) one week holiday or having babies.
"You don't oppose the shepherds ... you're out of unity if you don't just trot on and behave how you want them to.
"There is no informed choice to stay and the choice to leave is difficult given the obstacles put in front of them."
Gloriavale "strongly contests" all claims of "servitude, slavery and forced labour".
Their case follows a similar action by a group of former Gloriavale men - Hosea Courage, Daniel Pilgrim and Levi Courage - who the court ruled were employees from when they were just 6 years old, regularly undertaking "strenuous, difficult, and sometimes dangerous" work when they were still legally required to be at school.
In that case, Judge Christina Inglis ruled that the men had worked up to 70 hours a week and were subjected to "rigorous, sometimes violent supervision", being hit if they did not work fast enough and denied food at times.
Both the current and earlier cases followed multiple inquiries into the employment status of people living and working at Gloriavale.
The Labour Inspectorate investigated in 2017 after concerns raised by Charities Services, and again in 2020, after allegations of long working hours were made by two community members.
The results of both inquiries showed that no employment relationships existed within Gloriavale as defined by New Zealand employment law - that members of Gloriavale cannot currently be considered employees.
However, the Employment Court ruled the opposite, that members are employees - and the landmark decision has opened the door for the leavers to take further court action against Gloriavale.
Today Judge Inglis started hearing opening statements from lawyers for both the women and the community.
The court will then hear from 49 witnesses - including the women behind the case and current members of the community.
The hearing is expected to run for more than a month.
Much of the South Island is set to plunge below 0C tonight and tomorrow.