Scientology Disaster Response in Thailand

Scientology Volunteer Ministers are providing relief in Bangkok, Thailand, where flooding has affected some 3 million people.

Volunteer Ministers from the Church of Scientology Mission of Bangkok are working with other relief organizations to cope with the needs of those at a temporary shelter at Chon Buri College where more than 4,000 evacuees were moved to two weeks ago where they cooked and distributed food and provided Scientology Assists.

Teams of Volunteer Ministers also packed some 5,000 food boxes and delivered them by boat to those stranded by the flood waters.

To join the response team, fill out the disaster relief form on the Volunteer Minister website.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Volunteer Ministers Praised at Scientology Church Grand Opening in Twin Cities

Scientologists, guests, state and city officials assembled in downtown St. Paul, Saturday October 22, for the dedication of the new Church of Scientology Twin Cities.

Scientologists, guests, state and city officials assembled in downtown St. Paul, Saturday October 22, for the dedication of the new Church of Scientology Twin Cities. (Event Images:http://www.ScientologyNews.org ). The Church stands at 505 Wabasha Street and was formerly home to the Science Museum of Minnesota. The acquisition of the 82,000-square-foot facility in the heart of St. Paul was necessitated by the meteoric growth of the resident Scientology community. The Church of Scientology Twin Cities is now the largest Scientology facility in the American Midwest and will serve parishioners from Wisconsin to the Dakotas.

Located just blocks from the State Capitol and St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Church is additionally adjacent to the famed Fitzgerald Theater and so forms an “historic square” of buildings in downtown St. Paul. The premises were carefully renovated to preserve its most memorable features, including the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Wabasha Street and the three-story atrium. Also faithfully preserved was the original 300-seat IMAX Theater, now to serve as the Scientology Chapel and community meeting ground for citizens of all denominations. >>

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Peter Dunn: All in the Name of Help

Australian Scientologist Peter Dunn has served as a Scientology Volunteer Minister in Haiti, Queensland, and Japan.

At 4 a.m. on March 11, 2011, the shock wave from the magnitude 9 earthquake that triggered a 30-foot tsunami off the northeast coast of Japan reached Australia—not as a physical blast but rather as a summons for Scientologist Peter Dunn to return to Japan and help in her time of need.

Dunn, a native of Adelaide who lives in Sydney, had spent the last few months volunteering in the December 2010 Queensland floods, helping residents of Grantham, the town hardest hit, clean up their homes and neighborhoods.

Having lived in Japan for several years when he served as a staff member at the Church of Scientology of Tokyo, Dunn’s strong affinity for the Japanese people and his sense of duty prompted his departure for Japan.

Described by Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan as “the biggest crisis Japan has encountered in the 65 years since the end of World War II," the earthquake and tsunami left more than 20,000 dead or missing, causing an estimated 16.9 trillion yen ($220 billion) in damage and triggering the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

Dunn, who also served for several months in Haiti following the January 2010 earthquake, described the scene he encountered in Japan as very different from what he experienced in Port-au-Prince. Although the destruction was worse and more widespread than in Haiti, Japan rebounded, able to quickly leverage far more resources in the relief effort.

As is the custom of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers, on arriving in Japan they asked what was needed and wanted and set about providing what was asked. They distributed food and water, worked on the search and rescue operation, and manned shelters. They even arranged bicycle donations so junior high school students could travel over roads still closed to cars and trucks to deliver food and supplies to ill, injured, and elderly residents in and around the city of Kesennuma.

While he was prepared to take on any task needed, Dunn is a Scientology spiritual counselor or auditor—“one who listens,” from the Latin audire, “to hear or listen.” So his main function in Japan was to provide Scientology assists. These are techniques developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard that relieve stress and emotional trauma and can speed physical recovery by addressing the spiritual factors in illness and injuries.

“At one shelter, a lady who couldn’t walk when we started rose after a five-minute assist feeling like she wanted to run,” says Dunn. “Another elderly woman was deeply disturbed and told me she expected to die soon. A week later, after daily assists, she had regained her will to live and her enthusiasm and she was bringing life and optimism back to the entire room of 30 survivors in the shelter where she was staying.”

Dunn is proud that in each disaster where he has served, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers have addressed the task at hand with industry, willingness and persistence.

“It has been my honor to help hospital-bound amputees in Haiti, polite and gentle Japanese pensioners in homeless shelters, and rough, tough Aussie farmers,” says Dunn. “And each of them know by our actions that we have simply come to help.”

Introduced to Scientology in 1974 when a friend gave him a copy of Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought by L. Ron Hubbard, Dunn, now 61, found answers he’d long sought about the meaning and purpose of life. What he appreciates most from what he has gained in four decades as a Scientologist is the ability and opportunity to help.

The Scientology Volunteer Minister program was initiated by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard in 1976. There are now hundreds of thousands of people trained in the skills of a Volunteer Minister across 185 nations.

News about the Scientology Volunteer Minister at Blog.VolunteerMinisters.Org!

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

The Work of the Volunteer Ministers Disaster Response in Ishinomaki, Japan, Continued

One volunteer speaks of her experience on the Ishinomaki Volunteer Ministers Team and the effect it has had on her life.

It has been six months since I came to the disaster area. I have been working in the Ishinomaki team ever since.

There are always some foreign volunteers working with us, which can cause some troubles due to the differences in language and culture, particularly because I couldn’t speak English. Thanks to this team, however, I have learned to understand enough English to get by. I call it my “Disaster Overseas Education,” or “studying abroad in disaster areas.”

Many VMs of various backgrounds came to the disaster area—it was a team of unique and dynamic people.

___

Ironically, one thing I gained through this disaster was a better relationship with my father.

I always wanted to improve my relationship with my family, and I wanted to balance family with doing much more for society and humanity.

When the disaster struck I accomplished the second goal—I completely immersed myself in the Volunteer Minister activities. But at a certain point I realized I hadn’t spoken with my parents in quite some time.

I live in Nagano Prefecture, 240 km from my parents in Kyoto, and it sometimes happens that I don’t contact them for quite a while. So when I returned temporarily to Nagano from the disaster zone, I called my parents, only to learn that my 70-year-old father had retired in April.

I have never been able to talk casually with my father, and we rarely speak much when I call. So after talking over the phone, I wrote my parents a letter.

It had always been difficult for me to express my love to them—I even had the idea that I had hated my father but I expressed my gratitude to them—especially to my father—for working to provide for us for such a long time.

I was so surprised when I received a post card from my father in reply. I have written many letters to him—this is the first time he ever replied.

The post card was tightly filled with characters apologizing to me for having acted out of selfishness.

I was so happy to read it, I cried.

___

The need for help in the disaster zone continues.

Please join us in our Volunteer Ministers activities. There is a free shuttle bus from Tokyo. You will see what a positive influence you can have on people and society.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Scientology Volunteer Ministers African Goodwill Tour

Two lovely ladies from the Scientology Volunteer Ministers African Goodwill Tour.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Scientology Volunteer Ministers program inspired by David Miscavige

Nine years ago, after 9/11 the ecclesiastical leader of Scientology, David Miscavige, challenged Scientologists to take the terrorist attacks as a wake-up call and do something effective about changing things on this planet. Since then, Mr. Miscavige launched the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tours. Here is an article from the Scientology press office web site on the VMs in the South Pacific.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour Targets Literacy in Papua New Guinea

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

_{The Conchoo Dance Group performs a traditional dance, welcoming the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour to Papua New Guinea.}

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers South Pacific Goodwill Tour was officially welcomed by traditional dancers and local dignitaries at a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Murray Army Barracks in Papua New Guinea June 7. Tour members and officials spoke of working to tackle illiteracy and poverty through seminars and courses that the tour will provide at local level throughout the island.

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals include improving literacy as a pivotal target for eradicating poverty, increasing opportunity and guaranteeing other human rights. Of all Pacific island nations, Papua New Guinea ranks lowest in both literacy and standard of living, with some 30 percent of the population living on a dollar or less a day. To make inroads against this crucial problem, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour is providing free seminars and courses to teachers and students across the island.

Established in 1976 by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program enables people to better cope with common problems and stresses of life and independently improve their situations. Scientology Churches and Missions provide training in Volunteer Ministers know-how and sponsor Volunteer Ministers activities in their areas.

In 2004, to extend the reach of the Volunteer Ministers program, ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige launched the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tours, enabling teams of volunteers to bring help to remote areas including South and West Africa, Southern Asia, India, the South Pacific, Eastern Europe, Siberia, the Australian Outback, and Latin America.

For more information, visit the Scientology Volunteer Ministers website.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Haiti

Scientology Volunteer Ministers arrived in Haiti the first week after the earthquake in January, but new volunteers continue to arrive, and they are training Haitians in and around Port-au-Prince in Scientology technology who in turn are opening new groups all around the island.

The Church also sent a ship down with supplies, and this shows the arrival of the ship in P.A.P., being unloaded by a team of Scientologist VMs from about 15 nations including 100 Haitian nationals.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers program was developed in 1976 by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard. In the wake of 9/11, David Miscavige greatly expanded the scope of the program, which now includes Goodwill Tours throughout the world.



Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Scientology volunteer returns from Haiti

Another great story about a Scientology Volunteer Minister who served in Haiti.

This shows up on the Scientology Today web site:

_{Paris Morfopoulos (far left) with other Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Haiti}

Clearwater, Florida—Paris Morfopoulos, best known to Downtown Clearwater visitors as the calm but cheerful owner of the One Stoppe Shoppe, just returned from a tour of duty as a Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Haiti.

A Volunteer Minister is defined by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard as “…a person who on a strictly volunteer basis helps out his fellow man by providing simple, basic counseling to people he meets to assist them in overcoming difficulties they may be having in life.” Volunteer Ministers are trained in basic Scientology techniques through the Scientology Handbook.

This is Paris’ second trip to the earthquake-damaged country. “I can tell you that there is a lot of enthusiasm and activity in helping to rebuild the shattered country and lives of the Haitian people,” he said. “The physical infrastructure is still in shambles and the rubble seems to be largely still where it was when I was last there in February. But many, many people are pitching in and the work is going forward.”>>

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Kenya Scout leaders use Scientology Volunteer Ministers methods to help in the wake of Uganda mudslides

Search and Rescue

A team of Kenya Scouts who are also Scientology Volunteer Ministers traveled to Uganda last April when massive mudslides killed 94 and displaced 30,000 from their homes. Led by Elly Rajab, 22, the Scouts joined Uganda Army rescue workers in their search for 500 people missing in the flood-affected area.

Arriving in Uganda from Nairobi, Rajab and his team learned from survivors in IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps and from the Red Cross and the Uganda Army where their help was most needed. With hundreds still missing, the first priority was search and rescue-work that had to be done by hand with shovels and picks, as use of heavy machinery could trigger further landslides on the heavily saturated ground.

The Volunteer Ministers also distributed food and supplies and provided simple but powerful Scientology techniques, called "assists," developed by L. Ron Hubbard to help people in the camps overcome the disorientation and trauma of losing their homes, families and possessions.

In Nairobi, the previous year Rajab had trained as a Scientology Volunteer Minister to gain practical skills that he and his fellow Scout leaders could use to help the people of their country. After completing free online training in communication skills, conflict resolution, organizational basics and other subjects offered at www.volunteerministers.org, in fall 2009 Rajab arranged for Kenya Scout leaders from Mombasa, Marsabit, Kisumu and Nakuru to join him in Nairobi for a series of seminars provided by a Volunteer Minister sent from United States to Kenya. Since the seminars, the Scout leaders have in turn trained hundreds more Scouts in their own regions in Scientology Volunteer Minister technology.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Scientology-sponsored Ship Brings More Than 100 Tons of Supplies to Haiti for the Relief Effort

HAITI—A Scientology-sponsored “Lifeboat to Haiti” arrived in Port-au-Prince April 8, carrying more than 100 tons of urgently needed supplies including medicine, medical equipment, an ambulance, food, cooking stoves and tents.

In the first weeks following the earthquake, the Church of Scientology sponsored five chartered flights, bringing more than 440 doctors, nurses and emergency medical technicians and 280 Scientology Volunteer Ministers to the island, helping more than 200,000 people through their combined efforts in the first two and a half months.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers are in Haiti for the long haul, not only providing disaster relief but also working with local government and civic groups and community leaders who are determined to improve the quality of life for all Haitians.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers work in the IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camps providing food, water, and other supplies and training people in Scientology Assists—techniques developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard that help the individual overcome the emotional and spiritual aspects of trauma and stress.

The Volunteers Ministers are also establishing a base in Petionville to provide free training to individuals and groups including teachers, students, disaster relief groups and government agencies. This training addresses the underlying social issues and skills needed to bring about lasting improvement. Seminars and courses include subjects such as communication skills, the basics of organizing and study technology. So far, they have provided seminars and classes to over 8,000 local residents.

For more information on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Haiti Response Team, visit their web site at blog.volunteerministers.org.

Scientology-sponsored Ship Brings More Than 100 Tons of Supplies to Haiti for the Relief Effort

A Scientology-sponsored “Lifeboat to Haiti” arrived in Port-au-Prince April 8, carrying more than 100 tons of urgently needed supplies including medicine, medical equipment, an ambulance, food, cooking stoves and tents.

Scientology-sponsored Lifeboat for Haiti at the dock in Port-au-Prince

In the first weeks following the earthquake, the Church of Scientology sponsored five chartered flights, bringing more than 440 doctors, nurses and emergency medical technicians and 280 Scientology Volunteer Ministers to the island, helping more than 200,000 people through their combined efforts in the first two and a half months.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers are in Haiti for the long haul, not only providing disaster relief but also working with local government and civic groups and community leaders who are determined to improve the quality of life for all Haitians.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers work in the IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camps providing food, water, and other supplies and training people in Scientology Assists—techniques developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard that help the individual overcome the emotional and spiritual aspects of trauma and stress.

The Volunteers Ministers are also establishing a base in Petionville to provide free training to individuals and groups including teachers, students, disaster relief groups and government agencies. This training addresses the underlying social issues and skills needed to bring about lasting improvement. Seminars and courses include subjects such as communication skills, the basics of organizing and study technology. So far, they have provided seminars and classes to over 8,000 local residents.

For more information on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Haiti Response Team, visit their web site at blog.volunteerministers.org.

Erika, USA - "A motto to the VM Camp was 'Do anything and everything needed to get help to the people of Haiti'."

I went to Haiti with one of the Church of Scientology’s charter flights that came from Los Angeles via Miami and arrived in Haiti on 21 January 2010. Cindy was with us who just has recently done the VM courses recently and did a terrific job out there, mainly in the Future Orphanage. Paris drove us on his car, so when we got to Miami, Olaguer and I helped him to get all the communications equipment tested and wrapped up some set ups that had to be done before we could take the equipment with us.

So when I was in Haiti I helped with some aspects of communications and doing some things for Paris, typing and relaying communication. Computers were spare in the beginning so we had people hand write their messages when there was no computer available and I was typing it up later. I also helped to make ID badges for the VMs as we were required by the US Army as they were controlling the traffic in and out the Airport were our camp was.


The day after we got there I had the idea of making a internal phone book - I had noticed that Paris had several random notes of people’s phones, local numbers and in the US, VMs and other contacts outside the camp. So I made a handwritten Phone Book on a notepad. Days later at the Camp we had some Army guys visit us on trying to find help for a food drop with their chopper and one of our guys told him "let me find our Phone Book to get you the number of this team." The Army guys said: "A Phone Book! That's why we like you guys, we are so well organized". Well, they got their contact and their food drop lined up and happily left the camp (and I was proud).

The first three days outside of camp I was working in the General Hospital. It was very good that we got out there then because there were no visible groups of foreign doctors or other Disaster Relief Units there yet. Help was really desperately needed. The first day was a bit of a shock to me, it was so extremely hot, and seeing so many maimed people was not easy. I worked mainly in the park of the hospital, outside the buildings were there was a lot of people left lying around while the doctors were working mainly inside de buildings. I went around and saw what these patients needed, cleaning, sanitizing and covering wounds. I have no nurse training but I could do what anyone with some basic First Aid training can do to help injured people.

There were a lot of people in the park, I would say 60 people in beds, 20 more on the ground and their families or some family members with them. Someone I remember in particular was a woman who had an open wound on her breast she was in strong pain. I was giving her a touch assist so until the pain blew and she looked much more relaxed. Then I went onto help her 8 year old daughter to clean, disinfect and cover her wounds and taught her how to do it herself - I had just run in Haitian translator by then. She understood the importance of it.

I tried to keep log for the first 3 or 4 days but afterward all the days started to mush together, We just kept working, kept trying to help as many people as we could. Sometimes I lost track if it was day or night. And the days just after the catastrophe are vital and this is when you have the most confusion.

Then I moved on to the Miami Tent Hospital at the Port-au-Prince airport as they were requesting some more people to help over there. The first day they needed someone to route the visitors and keep security and control in who is coming in the three tents (housing hundreds of patients). Later I moved on to the storage tent and I was helping organize the medical supplies. Once the shelves were built and on their way to us we organized a fork lift to move around the big boxes of supplies and other goods to make space. A group of VMs then could put all the supplies in the shelves and finish organizing up the place in very short time. During the next days at the Miami University Hospital I was receiving new supplies and helped re-stocking the pharmacies at the Wound Care, OR and Pediatrics tent.

One thing that became kind of a motto to the VM Camp was "Do anything and everything needed to get help to the people of Haiti". I remember Elena from the Italian team mention this earlier but I really felt so in my heart and I could see for the actions I saw each VM take, everybody carried that out.

Erika

Michigan Scientology Volunteer Minister opts to help in Haiti instead of vacation

”I was on vacation, and thought to myself, ‘Doing this is so worthless when so many need help,’” said 18-year-old Echo Brabenec, of Suttons Bay. “I felt like I could do better by doing something to help the people in Haiti.”

The mostly home-schooled teen (she studied at Suttons Bay High School for a year, and graduated a year early from Traverse City West), went to Port-au-Prince, Haiti as one of the volunteer ministers of the Church of Scientology on Feb. 14, and will be there until mid-April.

She and her fiancé, Shane Fasel, a TC West graduate from the Interlochen area, and the church group flew out of Miami on a church-chartered plane packed with donated medical supplies. They are working in tandem with other relief organizations, churches, and military units, operating under the overriding viewpoint of their church that “something can be done about it.”

Echo explained why she felt so compelled to help the people of Haiti, whose country was devastated by a massive earthquake on Jan. 12.

“I’ve been raised with the idea that you take responsibility for the things you see in your life,” she said. “And what I saw was that so many needed help.”

Her parents, Randy Gilmore and Elisa Brabenec of Suttons Bay, said, “Echo has wanted to do this type of work since she was a young child; she was one of the youngest members of the church to complete her volunteer minister training. With each opportunity presented to her, we said, ‘But Echo, you’re only 12′… we always thought she was too young to handle what she was trying to do at the time.”

NBC’s “Today” show reporter Kerry Sanders was in Port-au-Prince, and gave a report on the work of the volunteer ministers.

Sanders stated that groups from the Church of Scientology have helped at the sites of many of the world’s worst disasters, saying, “They were at 9/11, and at Katrina, and now they are here, doing the work that no one else wants to do.”

Welcome reception

Sanders’ report included interviews with members of the group, and with a doctor working in a crowded, makeshift hospital, who said, “I am totally impressed with these young adults from the Scientology Church. They have just been so effective for us.”

A young volunteer named Nicole, who wore the bright yellow T-shirt that identifies the group, said that the Scientologists are not in Haiti to spread their beliefs. “We don’t even mention religion,” she said, adding that the menial work they were doing was unlikely to make people want to join the church.

Sanders reported on the value of a particular type of gentle touch therapy called an “assist,” saying, “In 20 minutes, we watched as Nicole took a pained little girl from frowns to giggles.”

Echo spent a week in a Christian school giving assists for physical pain and emotional stress, and has helped deliver seminars to aid people in refocusing their attention from the trauma of their situation to productive plans and activities. Her group has recently been cleaning a hospital to prepare it for reopening.

“Their work with the Haitians focuses on bringing each individual with whom they work to an improved state of mind, one in which they will be able to look at their situation with hope and certainty of their own individual ability to effect the changes that are needed,” said Echo’s mother, Elisa.

On a typical day in Haiti, Echo and the team get up at 7:30 in the morning and gather for a meeting at 8. The 50 to 60 people, including medical teams, decide where they are most needed that day, and then go out to help and deliver the simple and effective assists; the technique is also easy to teach, and those who learn it can then help others. The team has gone to orphanages and refugee camps, and has also given assists to members of the military and medical teams.

“We’ve been received with open arms here,” she said. “All the people are warm and friendly, and often give us big hugs and kisses. The Haitians are the craziest drivers I’ve has ever seen! But it feels really good when little kids give a huge ‘thumbs up’ when we drive by. The kids we’ve met are smart, and very fast learners.”

Echo described her experience saying, “This is one of the greatest experiences of my life; it’s wonderful to be able to deliver an assist and see the smiles come back on people’s faces!”

In spite of the devastation that surrounds her in Haiti, Echo said, “The people of Haiti really need help to get their homes rebuilt, but people are doing what they can to get back up on their feet and clean up … I feel a sense of hopefulness.”

Echo’s parents reflect the belief of many of those who have gone to Haiti to help in the aftermath of the tragedy: “We believe in people’s inherent ability to create beauty, do good work, and solve the problems that face them. If you relieve the immediate stress and focus them on that ability, they will respond to the challenges of life with renewed vigor.”

_{This article by contributing writer Kristine Morris appeared Monday, March 8, in the Grand Traverse Insider and is reprinted with its permission.}

Help Haiti

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Disaster Response Coordinator has put out a call for Volunteer Ministers to travel to Haiti, in response to the January 12, 2010, magnitude 7.0 earthquake. Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive estimates the death toll from the earthquake, which destroyed most of the Capital City of Port-au-Prince, could reach hundreds of thousands. Lack of resources and decimated infrastructure in Haiti, the least-developed country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world according to the US State Department, is severely hampering the search and rescue operation and care for the survivors.

For information on how to join the Volunteer Ministers team in Haiti or to sponsor a volunteer to go contact the Volunteer Ministers Disaster Response Coordinator at vm@volunteerministers.org

Scientology Volunteer Ministers of Australia Outback Goodwill Tour

Scientology Volunteer Ministers Outback Goodwill Tour—Traveling through the Australia outback helping one person at a time

Scientology Volunteer Ministers, traveling through the Australia Northern Territory, are bringing help on a one-on-one basis, where help is needed.

Australian Aboriginal culture may well be the oldest continuous living culture on Earth, beginning an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 years ago. But over the past two centuries the culture and rights of the indigenous people have taken a tremendous toll.

Last year, the Australian government formally apologized for the past wrongs caused by successive governments to the indigenous Aboriginal population, acknowledging its laws and policies had “inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss”. And the government’s formal support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples last April was acknowledged by the Australian Human Rights Commission, as a “giant step,” toward “embracing the fundamental guiding principles of mutual respect and partnership.”

To make a real difference at grassroots level, the issues that impact the lives of indigenous Australians need to be addressed. A team of Scientology Volunteer Ministers, traveling through the outback, are bringing help to the Aboriginal community, one person at a time.

They help people where they work and live, visiting them in their homes, on the streets and in the camps. They provide seminars in skills such as conflict resolution, communication and the basics of organization. They tackle literacy problems by training parents, teachers and civic leaders on the technology of study developed by Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard.

Addiction and substance abuse, particularly alcohol and inhalants, are serious problems in the community and the volunteers use technology from the Scientology Handbook to help people withdraw from drugs and alcohol. They accompany this with Scientology assists to overcome the pain and discomfort associated with withdrawal. Scientology assists are procedures that greatly increase the speed of healing by addressing the emotional and spiritual factors in illness and injuries.

“I have experienced a reinvigoration in my faith in humanity and my will to live,” wrote one man who was helped by the Tour. “I can now expand and achieve my intention in life,” he went on to say. “Being associated with you and the materials has given me a glow in life—it’s come back. I feel good. … I’m happy and grateful. There is nobody else in Alice Springs like you people.”

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Outback Goodwill Tour has taken to heart the spirit in which Mr. Hubbard created the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program: “If one is going to find fault with something, it implies that he wishes to do something about it and would if he could. If one does not like the crime, cruelty, injustice and violence of this society, he can do something about it. He can become a Volunteer Minister and help civilize it, bring it conscience and kindness and love and freedom from travail by instilling into it trust, decency, honesty and tolerance.”

Scientology Volunteers Help Victims of Sumatra Earthquake

Australian Scientology Volunteer Ministers bring spiritual first-aide to survivors of devastation in southern Sumatra.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers arrived in Indonesia the day after the September 30 earthquake left more than 1,000 dead and half a million homeless.

The Australian Scientology Volunteer Ministers who traveled to Padang, 28 miles from the epicenter of the magnitude 7.9 earthquake, are no strangers to disaster. They are veterans of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2007 Yogyakarta tornado and the 2007 Java quake. But even they were challenged by the enormity of the devastation they encountered.

Here is an account of their first day:

In Padang, 28 miles from the epicenter of the magnitude 7.9 earthquake, they started in Chinatown, left in shambles by the disaster. There, in a medical tent, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers showed the doctors and nurses how to provide Scientology Assists and gave them copies of an instruction booklet. Assists are procedures developed by L. Ron Hubbard that provide relief by addressing the emotional and spiritual factors in stress, trauma, illness and injuries.

A nurse said “So, you can give relief using no drugs and no medicine? This is really needed. We all need to know this!”

On to a Chinese temple serving as a shelter for those whose homes were destroyed. The volunteers met the head of the medical clinic who had relocated his operation to the temple’s basketball court when the earthquake destroyed his offices. He could not keep up with the flood of people who had come to the temple for help so the Volunteer Ministers went to work. They set up tables to provide Scientology Assists and chairs where others could sit while they waited their turns.

As lines of people received Assists and word of the physical and emotional relief spread, and the lines grew longer, the volunteers decided to train those waiting how to give Assists to each other. Their mission accomplished at that location, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers took their leave and moved on to a hospital where they could give assistance.

As they drove on through the city, they saw the eerie capriciousness of the earthquake. A three-story building leaned precariously over its neighbor’s home. Another building looked untouched until they saw that one wall was missing entirely. One house stood with every room exposed to view, a snapshot of a family no longer there.

The first hospital they found was completely destroyed. The next, a private hospital, was still operating despite damage. There, on the steps, a woman holding a baby was crying uncontrollably—her brother was inside dying because she didn’t have the 125,000 rupiah to buy what he needed from the blood bank. The Volunteer Ministers paid for the blood—$15 to save a life.

The volunteers moved into the wards and started giving Scientology Assists to injured patients while others explained the procedure to the nurses and taught them how to give Assists.

One man whose leg was completely numb received an Assist. When it was over, not only was the feeling in his leg restored, but his huge smile attested to the fact that the pain that had wracked the rest of his body was gone as well.

Concrete had crushed another man’s leg, breaking it in dozens of places from knee down to foot. The doctors had inserted metal rods into his leg. Blood was seeping out into the freshly bandaged wounds and he was writhing in pain. By the time his Assist was done he was calm and relaxed, and he smiled when he said, “I feel good… I feel good!”

Another man, whose entire body had been injured, was traumatized to the point of complete unresponsiveness—it appeared he could not hear or speak at all. The Scientology Volunteer Minister explained what she was doing with impromptu sign language and began the Assist. At first he didn’t appear to notice anything, but gradually he began to respond and in the end he was smiling.

As Day One in Padang drew to a close, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers met a team from the Indonesian Red Cross who had booked an extra hotel room where a bucket served as shower at the end of a long, hot and dirty day they will never forget.

Scouts and Scientology Volunteer Ministers Partner to Help the People of the Amazon

Scientology Volunteer Ministers and Cuauhtémoc scout leaders team up to bring help to the indigenous people of the Amazon.

As the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Amazon Goodwill Tour pulls up stakes and prepares to head farther downstream, the volunteers look back on the past five months. This is the first in a series of articles that tells their story.

In April 2009, Mexico City, Scientology volunteers were preparing for a Goodwill Tour to help indigenous people of the Amazon improve their lives through simple technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard.

The leader of Troop 333 of the Cuauhtémoc Scouts heard about the Amazon Tour. The skill and compassion of the Volunteer Ministers confirmed his impression of Mr. Hubbard, creator of the program, whom he first encountered through the pages of Dianetics in 1975.

The troop leader devised a plan to combine forces—Scouting and Volunteer Ministers—as he saw in the Volunteer Ministers program a technology to better enable the scouts to fulfill their oath: “to help other people at all times.”

His idea was to invite a team of his most trusted scouts to join the Goodwill Tour, learn the technology and gain practical experience in using it under the guidance of experienced Volunteer Ministers.

As the Scouts loved the idea, the Scout leader proposed it to the Scientology Goodwill Tour and selected three candidates from among his best group leaders to form this unique partnership.

Nasxihly, 22, a nurse and Scouting group leader of children ages 6 to 10, brought enthusiasm and compassion to the Volunteer Ministers team, and her nursing skill was invaluable in areas where illness is rampant and hygiene often lacking.

Ivan, 23, a marketing student and Scouting group leader of youth ages 11 to 15, contributed his professional talents to reach out to people through TV and radio interviews.

Manuel, 20, a university student and Scouting group leader of teens and young adults ages 18 to 22, took care of the many details in moving the tour from place to place and documented the Tour’s work through photos and video.

The three new Goodwill Tour members learned the skills that make the Scientology Volunteer Ministers so effective, through courses based on the Scientology Handbook.

In a moving ceremony on April 30, 2009, the Cuauhtémoc Scout Leader presented the entire team with the flags of Mexico and Scouting. The Scouts and the Scientology Volunteer Ministers joined hands as the leader called on them to “work very hard and achieve the purpose of bettering the lives of the people of the Amazon.” Expecting the best from them all, he said, “This is a great responsibility and we know that you will do excellent work.”

With that, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Amazon Goodwill Tour left for Iquitos, Peru, the largest city in the Peruvian rainforest, and the gateway to the Amazon.

As their story continues in part two of this series, the skills and teamwork of the team are put to the test, as they arrive in Iquitos just as the Amazon River reaches the highest level ever recorded, prompting Peru’s President Garcia to declare a 60-day state of emergency.

For more information on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers visit www.volunteerministers.org.

Scientology Tour Helps Benin Orphans

Scientology volunteers work with Benin humanitarian group to improve the quality of care for orphans in the City of Djougou

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour, which travels throughout western Africa offering seminars, courses and one-on-one help for people throughout the region, has provided training to orphanage administrators in the city of Djougou, teaching effective solutions to the challenges they face in improving the quality of care in their facilities.

An estimated 340,000 Benin youth are orphans, with no anticipated decrease in the short term. In the first half of this decade the number of AIDS orphans—children who have lost either one or both parents to AIDS—in Benin more than doubled, from an estimated 23,000 in the year 2000 to some 62,000 in 2005, and the prediction is that this will only continue to escalate. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Agency for International Development have predicted that by the end of the decade, 20 million children in Africa will lose one or both parents to AIDS.

To effectively address issues related to parentless children, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers partnered with a non-profit group responsible for 28 orphanages in the City of Djougou. The Volunteer Ministers delivered “The Raising of Children” seminar for orphanage administrators, presenting procedures and practices, developed by humanitarian and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, that can be applied to improve the quality of care of children in these institutions.

The orphan care initiative is just one in Benin, an emerging nation whose Gross Domestic Product ranks 159 of 177 nations. The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour offers seminars and workshops free of charge to any non-profit group or government agency on increasing efficiency, improving communication skills and organizing to increase production.

Scientology volunteers also trained nurses at a local clinic to use Scientology Assists, techniques that provide relief and speed recovery from emotional or physical trauma. They also gave a drug education seminar to a local youth group and a workshop to a women’s association on how to resolve conflicts and save marriages.

In addition to seminars in community locations, the volunteer ministers provided small-group training and one-on-one counseling at their big yellow tent, where visitors could select from 19 courses ranging from “Assists for Illnesses and Injuries” to “Tools for the Workplace.” These free courses are also available online at the Scientology Volunteer Ministers website.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers

The Church’s 153 regional Volunteer Ministers traveling centers—known for their signature yellow tents—have given aid to 10.8 million people in 116 countries.

Through the last 20 years, Scientology Volunteer Ministers have provided emergency service at 126 worst-case disaster sites. Today, they are among the world's most recognized independent relief organizations.

A Scientology Volunteer Minister does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence. A Scientology Volunteer Minister is a person who helps his fellow man on a volunteer basis by helping restore purpose, truth and spiritual values to the lives of others.

Volunteer Ministers live by the motto that "Something can be done about it."

Overview of results:

• Today there are 196,000 Scientology Volunteer Ministers worldwide, compared to 45,000 in 2005 and 6,000 in 2001.
• Volunteer Ministers have helped over 1.4 million people in the last year, a 300 percent increase over the 2004 figure of 550,000 people. Volunteer Ministers have helped 10.8 million people since 9/11.
• More than 470,000 Volunteer Ministers information mailings have been sent out over the past two years.
• Over 750,000 people have visited the Volunteer Ministers Internet site (www.volunteerministers.org) in the last year alone, with 149,000 people starting free online Volunteer Minister Courses in the last seven months alone.
• 18 Continental Volunteer Ministers traveling centers have toured through 116 countries covering over 300,000 miles (more than 140,000 miles within the past year).
• The 135 regional Volunteer Ministers traveling centers—the signature yellow tents attached to Churches of Scientology in major cultural centers—have toured throughout their cities or towns helping hundreds of thousands yearly.
• Volunteer Ministers have been involved in disaster relief efforts in 126 major disaster sites, 42 locations in the last year alone.
• Volunteer Ministers have trained and partnered with more than 500 different organizations and agencies including the Red Cross, FEMA, National Guard, and local police and fire departments.

More articles from Freedom Magazine

Scientology Volunteer Ministers Help Martial Arts Students in Zambia Gain New Skills

With workshops based on the Scientology Handbook, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers African Goodwill Tour gave martial arts students a new perspective on life.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Africa Goodwill Tour trained students at a national marital arts tournament in Kitwe, Zambia in technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard. As Church of Scientology leader, David Miscavige, described the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program: “The final word, as regards our front-line work bringing our help wherever and whenever needed is our corps of Scientology Volunteer Ministers — on call, 24 hours a day in scores of nations.”

The volunteers usually provide training at the big yellow tent they erect in the towns and villages they visit, but while stationed in Kabwe, in central Zambia, a young man who had trained at their tent invited them to come to the nearby city of Kitwe, to attend a martial arts tournament and hold workshops for students and their guests.

The workshops were based on chapters from the Scientology Handbook, a compilation of technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard to help people cope with the problems they encounter in life and improve conditions for themselves and others.

From the feedback received, the workshops were a great success.

“Doing this course has been a challenge to me,” said a graduate of the communication workshop. ” I will use the knowledge I have acquired from this course to make my world better to live in.”

“Doing this course has really helped me,” a graduate of the Integrity and Honesty workshop said. “I have attained self-worth and integrity and the ability to feel honest with myself and others.” Another young man who completed the same training said, “This course was challenging. I have benefited so much. It has helped me become honest in everything I am doing, which will help my friends and family as well.”

Scientology churches around the world provide workshops and seminars free of charge in these and other subjects. To arrange for a seminar for your own group or organization visit the Scientology Volunteer Ministers web site.