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SCIENTOLOGY VOLUNTEER MINISTERS (VMs) UPDATE Monday 10 January 2005 OVERVIEW
More Volunteer Ministers (VMs) have arrived over the last few days in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In Aceh, in Sumatra, the VMs visited an area that bore the full brunt of the tsunami. The scene was utter devastation. Brick and concrete buildings had been demolished. Cars were twisted and compressed, smashed down by the wave. As far as the eye can see, there is flat ground with the skyline uninterrupted by buildings.
The VMs have been working with the rescue teams in the area ministering assists to the rescue workers still engaged in the difficult task of collecting the bodies.
Sri Lanka
A team of VMs has arrived in Galle. A major concern of relief workers in the city is the need to educate people in health measures to prevent the spread of disease. Most of the city has been destroyed and the risk of epidemics is high because of inadequate drainage of the water left behind by the tsunamis.
The VMs have set up their headquarters, a big yellow tent, in a monastery that has been transformed into a center for refugees. “We are working alongside doctors and nurses,” said one of the VMs, “and we are here to help provide whatever people need to get on with rebuilding their lives, but hundreds more volunteers are needed.” Thailand International relief agencies have arrived on the site at Phang Nga and are now in the process of taking over the relief operation. The VMs are completing the activities they were engaged in—building a morgue, moving coffins and helping to identify bodies. They have been ministering assists in a tent set up for that purpose as well as in local hospitals.
India An official from an international relief organization has requested assistance from the VMs in training volunteers engaged in helping the children recover from the ordeal. As a result, some of the VMs and two Tibetan Buddhist monks attended a meeting with the district governor of a Rotary Club. In coordination with the club, the VMs will be training local volunteers in how to help their tsunami victims. The entire group was then driven to a fishing village affected by the tsunami to assess the current situation. Three hundred and fifty houses had been destroyed. They walked through the area and there is literally no sign that houses had ever been there. Fishing trawlers were “beached” on the banks of the waterway, broken and damaged, fishing nets were strewn around the site, clothes and debris were scattered around, and the local people were lining up to receive rice. The VMs met with members of a local village self-help group, whose leader asked them to train the group in how to give assists. There are 40 such groups with 20 members each and they educate people on HIV/AIDS, rainwater, harvesting, sanitation, job creation, and vocational training. The head of the group was concerned however at the effects of mental and emotional trauma on the survivors. It was arranged that an initial group of 30 will be trained by the VMs. After further consultation with the Rotary club, and at their request, the VMs were split into two teams, with one team operating in Cunnalore and the other in Nagapathnum. The training is now underway. 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 1. Assists are techniques developed by L. Ron Hubbard. They operate on the principle that one tends to withdraw mentally or spiritually from an injured area. Only by restoring communication with this area can one bring the spiritual element into healing, thereby greatly speeding the healing process. Assists are used to alleviate stress and physical aches and pains, or to orient a confused or distraught individual to his present environment.
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