A young woman has told how she ran away from the Amish community and cut her hair and put on a pair of jeans for the first time.
Alisha Green, 26, was a generational member of the Amish and Mennonite community as her parents and grandparents were born into it.
She claims the community was restrictive as it was recommended not to have contact with anyone outside the group.
Alisha claimed that being raised within the Amish community meant that she was expected to marry and raise a family instead of going to work.
She claims people are kept in the community out of fear as they are told bad things will happen to them if they leave.
After going for her driving test when she was 18, Alisha realized that life outside the community was not what she was told and in May 2024, Alisha packed up and has not had contact with her family since.
Since leaving last March, Alisha has cut her hair and put on a pair of jeans for the first time.
Alisha, a delivery driver, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, said: “It got to the point where I was either going to leave or stay for the rest of my life.
“I was 26 years old, I was tired of the expectations placed on me.
“I was expected to get married and have a child, that’s what my parents wanted.
“I didn’t feel like I had the freedom to have a career or live the way I wanted.”
Alisha was born into the Amish and Mennonite community, she was home schooled as a child.
She claims that she had many “faith limitations” and she was warned to stay away from people outside the Amish community as they did not follow God.
Alisha said: “I didn’t even realize how limited it was until I left, I was able to cut my hair for the first time and I was able to wear jeans.
“There was an understanding that if you had friends, you couldn’t be close to them if they were outside the community.
“It was encouraged that we didn’t have friends outside the community.”
Alisha claims that religion was the law and if you wanted to do something within the community, you had to get your parents’ permission first.
She said that God’s teachings were deceptive.
Alisha said: “For me, this meant that I had to report back to my parents for many of my decisions, they were seen as the authority and I had to follow what they said.
“It is the idea of the whole community that you follow the rules and get the blessing of your parents.
“The main reason I left is because of religious restrictions.
“I was tired of expectations and I knew that my relationship with God should not be legalistic.”
Alisha said the first time she realized that life outside the community was different from what she had been told was when she went for her driving test.
She said: “Taking the driving test was really exciting for me.
“There’s a lot of fear within the Amish community that if you leave, bad things will happen to you, and that’s what I was afraid of.
“To see other people who were not part of the Amish culture doing good things was a shock to me.
“In many ways, it made me feel like I was living in a bubble.
“It helped me realize that things were not normal in my community.”
In May 2024, Alisha was home alone for a week while her family was away.
She then decided to pack up and leave with the help of some close friends.
She said: “That time I spent alone was very good for me.
“Then I packed up, mentioned to my family that I was going to stay somewhere else and just never came back.”
Alisha said she has had no contact with her family since then and they believe she was possessed by the devil.
She said: “They think it’s a false teaching and they think the devil has got hold of me.
“It’s sad and I wish they knew that wasn’t the case.
“They’re well-known within the community and people have told them where I’ve stayed, so I’ve had to keep moving.”
Alisha said that she does not regret leaving and is looking forward to her future.
She said: “Life has been really interesting, there are so many sweet people I didn’t expect to meet.
“Overall, I’m very glad I’m no longer in the Amish community.
“I would say that life outside the community is scary, when you have a lot of rules, you know what to expect.
“There are no rules outside, so it can be scary and uncomfortable.
“Overall, it’s been refreshing to have people out there who care about me and that’s not what I’ve been portrayed as.”
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