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Scientology Volunteer Ministers
Tsunami Aid
Something CAN be done about it.
Phuket, Thailand - devastation in the wake of the tsunami
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An assist being given to a tsunami victim
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The first of the international news reports broke early on the morning after Christmas: Some 12,000 people were already declared dead from the giant tsunamis that swept across the Indian Ocean, triggered by an undersea earthquake off Sumatra’s northwestern coast.
For days, with each subsequent report the death toll climbed, eventually reaching 150,000. In the end it was realized that a final total might never be known. Millions of others lost their homes or livelihoods, and countless victims have been stranded without food, water or medicine making this one of the largest natural disasters in recorded history.
Around the world, members of the Scientology Volunteer Minister corps, known as VMs, heard the news reports and began packing. Soon teams from the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Europe and Taiwan were on their way to the hardest-hit spots in Asia to give assistance and help coordinate relief efforts.
No strangers to this type of activity, Scientology Volunteer Ministers have, for more than a quarter century, crossed national, racial, political and religious boundaries in more than 150 countries to help people deal with sudden upheavals and restore order, dignity and happiness to their lives.
These volunteers are graduates of VM training offered at all Scientology churches and missions. Many are also trained in first aid and “first response” disaster relief procedures. These VMs quickly formed the core of the Scientology Disaster Response (SDR) teams working on the front lines.
Less than a day after the tsunamis hit, hundreds of VMs had arrived, in their easily identified yellow-orange jackets, to many of the most needy areas: southern Thailand, Sri Lanka, the east coast of India, and Indonesia.
“Aiding and comforting survivors requires first putting our organizational skills to work and assisting with relief efforts in any way we can,” says Canadian VM Earl Smith, 54, one of the first VMs to arrive in Chennai, India. “Then, with the flow of medical supplies and equipment arriving, which makes environment relief possible, we are able bring our most important contribution to the traumatized - and that’s spiritual aide.”
Laid to Rest in Dignity
No challenge could have been as grim as the one facing the first VM team that arrived in Thailand to find more than 1,000 bodies piled up and being held for identification. There was no organized activity to get the bodies identified, only survivors desperately searching through the mounds of bodies for anyone they might recognize. The team took on the onerous task of creating a dignified and hygienic makeshift morgue. They then drew up an organizing board and started assigning duties.
When Thai government officials arrived they were surprised to find the process already running smoothly, with bodies being properly identified and then handed over to the families for burial. Soon the officials were referring other relief workers to “the guys in the yellow jackets, because they get things done.”
Assists to the Survivors
The VMs next turned their attention to the living, and began delivering what are called “assists,” spiritual assistance techniques that can be administered to individuals to address fatigue, stress, shock, grief, injury or disorientation. These are the most unique and probably the most valuable services that VMs provide.
As is typical after a major disaster, many people were terribly confused or in a state of shock. VMs used a simple assist for disorientation, called a “locational,” to bring them back into touch with what was going on around them, so they could begin to deal with the situation.
Other assists were also used, and the word “miracle” was heard more than once to describe the results. Many people, receiving the assist for fatigue, described it as “getting their batteries recharged.” In all, the team in Thailand delivered more than 300 assists in just the first few days and then began training local residents in how to deliver assists as well.
Relief Epicenter
At other locations, teams of Volunteer Ministers encountered entirely different problems. At a village in India, the wave carried vehicles, broken up housing and other debris as far as two miles inland and strew it across the fields. Thousands were homeless and everything was covered in a layer of gray “muck”. The VMs pitched in to provide sanitation, temporary housing, and of course, assists.
One problem VMs encountered in almost all the disaster areas was that although generous donations of food, blankets and other supplies had started pouring in from relief agencies and charities, the supplies were piled up in warehouses and on wharves and weren’t getting into the hands of the victims for whom they were intended. Due to the confusion, very little had been set up to distribute the aid. The VMs jumped in and got the supplies distributed to those in need.
In devastated Banda Aceh local authorities asked the VM team to staff and manage a newly established trauma center. Today the bright yellow Volunteer Ministers tent in Banda Aceh with the banner asserting “Something CAN be done about it” is testimony to the spirit and accomplishment of hundreds of determined volunteers, community leaders, rescue workers and survivors working together to bring about a better future.
What You Can Do About It
To state the obvious about the Volunteer Ministers, they are “volunteers.” Not only do they work without pay, but often they dig into their own pockets for the privilege of helping their fellow man, spending days or weeks away from their families and their jobs. When they have to return home, new volunteers replace them, as the task of rebuilding is immense and will take many months.
In India alone, more than 500 seaside villages were damaged or totally destroyed. More help is needed, as well as donations to provide supplies for relief workers, disaster victims and their families.
No matter your nationality or religious affiliation, if you wish to learn the basic skills of a Volunteer Minister we can train you and help you get there. Otherwise, donate to help our teams provide their valuable relief actions.
The International Scientology Volunteer Minister hotline is receiving more than a hundred calls a day from caring people wanting to donate or help the relief efforts. More than 500 Scientology Volunteer Ministers are at the disaster sites, but more is needed. Call the hotline at 1-800-435-7498 or (323) 960-1949 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.
Learn on-line how to do Scientology Assists.
2. Organizing Board: Shows the functions of an organization, the order they are done in, and who is responsible for getting them done.
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