OVERVIEW

Indonesia

The Scientology Trauma Center in Banda Aceh

A VM works to assist this man in hospital

But now that the immediate danger is over, officials and volunteers who brought the city through the crisis are feeling the effects of the stress they have lived through. And now, they too, are receiving assists and learning on a personal level how much relief assists provide.

There is a spirit of great cooperation, with volunteers working alongside clerics and local residents.

Some examples of the help provided:

In the military hospital a woman who was running an extremely high fever was given an assist by a VM in the area. At the end of the assist the woman became aware of her surroundings, looked up and gave the VM a smile. Her breathing had eased and now she is on the road to recovery.

A patient in the hospital with Hepatitis Type A couldn’t feel only one side of his body and severe pain on the other side. Understandably, he was feeling very despondent. By the end of the assist he regained the feeling in most of his body. Very relieved, he began smiling and talking to the other patients.

Adults and children alike respond very well to assists. An example is, an eighteen-month old girl in hospital who had a fever and stomach trouble. She wouldn’t look at anyone and just apathetically stared at the wall beside her. Nothing had made any difference. A VM gave her an assist and she responded well, focusing her attention on the VM helping her.

VMs visiting the refugee camp ran into a man who had been trained on how to do assists last week. He explained that he had been doing the assists on his children every evening and reported that they now sleep very well and no longer have nightmares.

Sri Lanka

While the VMs in Sri Lanka carry on with their primary mission, bringing spiritual relief to those so badly affected by the disaster, they are also looking after physical needs.

With over 400,000 left homeless by the tsunami In Sri Lanka, Volunteer Ministers worked with the Italian Civil Protection Unit in Galle to construct 15 more tents to provide temporary housing.

Before the tsunami the Town Hall of Galle was an important center for the local citizens. A team of VMs decided to tackle its restoration. They started by removing truckloads of debris and wreckage deposited by the waves, then they had the fire department come and spray down the floors. The town hall has now been reopened and restored to use.

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.