The following is a continuation and update of the activities of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers (VMs), bringing organizational and trauma reduction skills to the four main disaster zones—Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India.

The Churches of Scientology have sent Volunteer Minister (VM) teams to each of these four locations. There are now more than 200 VMs on location delivering Scientology Assists to survivors, relatives and anyone else in need and teaching others to also minister these assists. The VMs have also provided necessary organizational skills to initiate disaster relief action in areas where people were still numb from shock and had no idea of to what to do to get back to some kind of normality.

Below is a report of some of the highlights of what Scientology VMs have accomplished over the last few days.

Senior government officials, including the Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, are giving total support to the VMs after witnessing the positive results of their actions at the disaster sites.

Report by Disaster Zone

Today the Medan project personnel broke into two teams.

The first team of VMs went to a refugee facility. There were hundreds of survivors as well as relatives and volunteers. Most were suffering from shock. Reverend Nick Broadhurst from the Church of Scientology of Australia, who heads the VM team in this location, gave an assist to one of the survivors. It ended with the woman feeling better and smiling. Then others who had been shaken by the disaster lined up for assists as well.

Survivors told their stories. One woman’s eight family members had tried to run away from the flood. She ran in fear to the upstairs of the house. The wave crushed down on the house but she survived while her family members did not.

One old man who had hurt his back when young and now had a curved spine was given what is called a “nerve assist”, which can restore communication between the spiritual being and his body, relaxing muscles. The assist helped to straighten the man’s back and soon he was grinning from ear to ear, smiling with the two teeth he had left. Soon there was a queue of people wanting assists. By the time the team left this place, the survivors had brightened up considerably.

The second team went to a local hospital where injured survivors were being treated. They were welcomed by the Hospital Director who was told about assists and how they do not conflict with medical treatment but can be used in conjunction with it to speed recovery. The Director immediately called the Senior Nurse from the Intensive Care and Recovery Ward and told her to give the VMs the run of the ward.

After half an hour, the Chief Surgeon of the Hospital took them to one of his patients, a man who had been in Intensive Care for five days.

The Chief Surgeon said the man had multiple fractures of his right arm, which had become septic as he had been found after six days in a tree in Aceh, the worst hit area of Indonesia. Although he had received extensive surgery, it was feared that the arm would have to be amputated. This man had also lost 28 relatives in the disaster. When the assist was started the patient was slipping in and out of consciousness and was unable to speak. After forty-five minutes, he was fully conscious and felt relief from the pain. He was then given a Locational Assist (an Assist that familiarizes the person with his present time environment) and he began to smile. Then he started talking about what had happened to him during the disaster. Afterwards he said how grateful he was for the assist and asked for a photo of those who helped him “so I can keep it close to my heart”. By the time the team left the ward, this patient, who had barely been alive for the past five days, was joking and teasing the nurses and gave the VMs a happy farewell smile.

This result was observed by another doctor. That doctor requested that the VMs train others and immediately arranged a space and offered transport, interpreters and even finances for their training. The doctor then went through every ward of the hospital selecting relatives of Aceh victims to attend a workshop by the VMs next morning.

The Mayor of Medan has also opened the door for such training in the hospitals of Medan.

Thailand

Sixty Thais have now been trained on Locational and Touch Assists.

Every morning the VMs call the Disaster Relief organizers such as the Army and Red Cross and find out what they need. (Calling every morning and even twice a day is necessary due to the rapidly changing needs.) On Monday, a team went to the army location to help them pack the tremendous amount of supplies waiting to go out to help the victims.

In addition, the first team from abroad, 8 Swedish volunteers, was put on a plane to Phuket. There are thousands of Swedish people dead or missing and the Swedish team act as interpreters to the Thai people.

The government has arranged for Scientology VMs with Scientology membership identification to travel anywhere in the country at no charge so they can move from site to site giving relief and training others to do so as well.

VMs are situated in Phang Nga, one of the hardest hit areas in Thailand. They are located in an area called Takua Pa, which houses the government’s Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) organization. The VMs are working with the forensic experts from several countries. They have served as key respondents for interviews by foreign news agencies that need interpreters to deal with the language differences.

India

This team includes nine people from South Africa including a doctor and nurse, with supplies. A second team is forming in South Africa to fly out by the end of the week.

A third team from Tanzania—2 doctors, 2 nurses and a relief-trained worker—are organizing flights to leave on Friday.

The first team from UK landed in India on Monday and headed to Chennai. A second team is now forming in the UK and a team from Hungary is readying to leave this week.

A team with a doctor is leaving Tampa within the week and will be taking medical supplies.

Sri Lanka

A medical team is on the ground that consists of 10 non-Scientologists who are working with the VMs in Sri Lanka to bring needed medical care to the area. The doctors patch up the survivors physically and then turn them over to the VMs who address the spiritual trauma.

A team of 17 German and 6 other European VMs arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Monday and have set up a base of operations. A Canadian team is making preparations to leave for Sri Lanka in the next few days.

If you can help with donations or wish to volunteer time, call (323) 960-1949 or 1-800-435-7498 or e-mail vm@volunteerministers.org

For more information: Scientology Volunteer Ministers News