Tsunami Aid and Disaster Relief News - Scientology Volunteer Ministers

In India, Thailand and Sri Lanka, the task of the Volunteer Ministers (VMs) is shifting over from handling the devastation and ministering to those in shock, to assisting the survivors to rebuild their communities.

In Indonesia, the VMs are continuing to deal with the remains of the victims while ministering assists to those who survived.

The period of giving immediate first aid to the injured and recovering the deceased is largely over. Some of the organizations that came to help in the aftermath of the disaster are pulling out. The Sri Lankans, however, now face the challenge of their intermediate and long-term survival. More than one million displaced persons are living in refugee camps or with relatives.

Working with government and relief organizations, the VMs have started projects to address these situations, including training in assists and helping people rebuild their own and their neighbors’ homes and businesses.

Construction teams work on rebuilding the community.

In Banda Aceh in Sumatra, one of the hardest-hit areas, the military helped the VMs construct a VM tent on the main street of the city. The VMs immediately went into action and ministered assists to the doctors and volunteers working in the area as well as to military staff and dozens of Red Cross volunteers.

Due to lack of transportation, supplies have piling up on the docks and not getting out to those who so desperately need them. Upon seeing this, the VMs asked to help get the food and other supplies immediately distributed. Vehicles were arranged as a first action and the VMs are now driving out to the isolated areas.

Volunteer Ministers give Assists in Phuket, Thailand.

In Thailand also, the VMs are working with the military to deliver truckloads of vitally needed food and supplies to people living in remote villages affected by the disaster.

The VMs in India are headquartered at Chennai, one of the main cities on the eastern coast, and have been working with local Rotary Club officials. In the village of Cuddalore, 800 youth who are active in the Rotary were trained to minister assists.

A VM team moved south of Chennai to the village of Nagapartunam, an area that suffered severe devastation. The team is providing assists to people who are living in camps in the area. Working with Tibetan Buddhist monks who have also been trained to minister assists, the VMs are bringing calm and order. To provide people with guidance at these difficult times, they have distributed copies of The Way to Happiness, a non-religious moral code based wholly on common sense written by L. Ron Hubbard. The booklet is a guide to happier living and carries no other appeal than the good sense it makes to the individual who reads it.

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

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.

SCIENTOLOGY VOLUNTEER MINISTERS