Scientology Today

_{A team of Scientology Volunteer Ministers traveled to Gonaïves from their Haiti headquarters in Pétionville,  to provide seminars to the people of the city.}

Nancy, an American teacher who spent her summer with the Scientology Haiti Disaster Response Team, traveled with two other Volunteer Ministers to Gonaïves to give seminars to the residents of the town decimated by storms in 2004 and 2008.   There, the local Volunteer Ministers who invited them brought the team to a school and two churches to provide training in Scientology technology.  Here is Nancy’s story:

I had heard that in Haiti when you announce a seminar, 50 people appear out of nowhere to attend.  I thought it was an exaggeration, but that’s exactly how it seemed in Gonaïves, where we filled two churches and a school to capacity for a series of seminars on Scientology assists—techniques developed by L. Ron Hubbard to help people recover from illness, injury, loss and trauma.

The seminars were simple and very practical.  We passed out copies in French of the Scientology Handbook booklets called “Assists for Illnesses and Injuries,” and after a brief demonstration got attendees right into action—practice,  practice, practice until they were confident they could use these techniques and teach them to their friends and families.

_{Seminar attendee reading the Scientology Handbook “Assists for Illnesses and Injuries” booklet.}

In the “touch assist” you tell the person you are helping to feel your finger as you touch them, to help restore communication with injured or affected body parts and the body as a whole.  I learned to say “feel my finger” in Haitian Creole—”santi dwèt mwen”—and acknowledge the person for doing so with a “thank you” (merci), “OK” (d’accord), or “very good” (très bien).

_{Seminar attendees practice the Scientology touch assist on one another.}

I demonstrated how to do the assist and attendees quickly stepped up to drill the technique on each other while I walked around making sure they were doing it correctly, referring them to the right page in the booklet when they had any questions.  The “practice” assists quickly turned into the real thing—those receiving them would suddenly look up with a smile or a sigh or a “Wow, I feel much better.”

Everyone wanted to give and receive them—teenagers, young moms, older men and women—it was amazing to watch them experience relief from pain as their tight muscles relaxed and their joints loosened up.

_{Scientology Volunteer Ministers demonstrate nerve assists, procedures developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard to restore communication with the body.}

Next was the nerve assist, which gently releases the standing waves in nerve channels, improves communication with the body and brings relief. We had them read the directions in the Scientology Handbook booklet and laid blankets down on the floor to demonstrate the assist.  They gathered around to watch and learn and then eagerly got down on the blankets to receive and give these assists themselves.  The relief they gained from these assists was remarkable.

_{Scientology Volunteer Ministers Assist Seminar in Gonaïves.}

Hurricane season rarely spares the people of Gonaïves.  As in Port-au-Prince, where lack of  building codes and standard construction practices are blamed for the inconceivable devastation of the January 2010 earthquake, in Gonaïves, too, destructive “solutions” have exacerbated the effects of natural disasters.

With oil too expensive in this country of poverty, for decades the people of Haiti chopped down their forests for charcoal to cook their food.  By 2004, little more that one percent of the forests remained. With hillsides stripped of trees, three days of heavy rains caused mudslides and floods killing over 2,500 people in Gonaïves.  Another 500 died under similar circumstances in 2008.

Our two days of seminars didn’t change that.  But we put this tool called “Scientology Assists” into the hands of more than 200 people—a skill they intend to use with their friends and families to bring relief and help make life more livable.  And we shared the news that “Something Can be done about it”—the motto of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers.

_{Hundreds of Scientology Volunteer Ministers groups have been established throughout Haiti}

Conditions in Haiti can be improved, technology does exist for raising the bar on ethics and morals, improving literacy, and   accomplishing goals. And this is all available through the Scientology Handbook and the Haiti Scientology Volunteer Ministers headquarters in Pétionville.  Here, hundreds of Volunteer Ministers groups are forming up and thousands are learning to use these tools to create a better future for their city and their country.

Haiti is a land that “once was.”  Occasional patches of concrete through the rubble in the Port-au-Pince streets evidence there must once have been roads. The French-colonial hotels with their wide verandas once must have been quite elegant.  And the passenger terminal that welcomed guests flying into the country in days past is long gone—replaced by a concrete-block hangar.

It is as though a 150-foot giant rampaged through Port-au-Prince on a drunken spree with a huge hammer—the teams of 30-50 government employees wielding pick axes, buckets and shovels around town are no match for the rubble he left behind.

More than a million Haitians live in tent cities now—little has been done to rebuild and there is no place else to go.

The structures that imploded on January 12, 2010, are crumbled monuments to those who saved a few dollars by adding extra sand to the concrete and those who condoned the lack of building codes.  The schools, markets and homes spared no one, not even those who built them, when they collapsed.

For the past month, as part of the Scientology Haiti  Volunteer Minister Relief Team, I’ve been doing what I can to change this, and help the freedom-loving people of Haiti transform their “once was” country into the nation they deserve.

There is wisdom in the maxim of teaching a man to fish rather than feeding him a meal and this is the philosophy of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program; we help others by giving them knowledge they can use  to make their lives better—knowledge that is easily taught, quickly learned, and useful in everyday life.

Ranking high among the skills we teach is a body of knowledge called Scientology assists.  Administered to help people recover from illness and injury (once needed first aid has been applied), assists can also relieve loss, trauma and the spiritual factors that contribute to chronic conditions.

A Scientology Volunteer Minister demonstrates a Scientology assist in a seminar in Haiti.

For most of my stay in Haiti I’ve been living (along with Russians, French, Australians, Mexicans and of course Haitians) at the program’s headquarters in Petionville, in the hills above Port-au-Prince, training Haitian Volunteer Ministers.  And I have learned so much from the Haitian people I’ve met—their beauty, resilience and optimism despite the ordeals they’ve survived.

While in Haiti, I ventured to Gonaïves with two other Volunteer Ministers.  A group from this town had attended a Scientology assist seminar in Port-au-Prince and asked us to bring this technology to their city as they prepare for this year’s hurricane season.

The hundred-mile bus trip begins with…waiting.  The bus only leaves Port-au-Prince for Gonaïves when it is full, and we soon learned that “full” means three adults to a seat in an ancient school bus.  Our only guarantee of a seat for the three-hour trip was to sit there from 7:10 until 8:40 in the morning while the bus slowly filled up. Once underway there was one hour on an asphalt road.  The rest of the way we barreled over concrete, ruts and rock and held our breath as the bus repeatedly swerved into the oncoming traffic lane to dodge stalled trucks.

On arriving in Gonaïves I was struck by its resemblance to the black and white images of ghost towns in old American westerns.  Although spared the wrath of the January 12 earthquake, it had never recovered from the tropical storms and hurricanes that decimated the city in 2004 and 2008.

But that impression ended when our seminars began.  I was once again struck by the spirit of the Haitian people—the true descendants of those who prevailed against the military might of Napoleon’s France; the only country in recorded history to have formed a free nation from a successful slave revolt—60 years before America’s Emancipation Proclamation.

Continued…

Some of the graduates at the Scientology Volunteer Ministers ceremony in Haiti, awarded certificates after completing training on Scientology Assists—spiritual first aid for the relief of pain and trauma.

A ceremony at the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Headquarters in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville on Friday, August 13, 2010, honored more than 100 graduates of Scientology Assists training—spiritual first aid for the relief of pain and trauma.  The graduates, many of them leaders of local Volunteer Ministers groups, use this technology in towns, villages and IDP (internally displaced persons) camps throughout the country. This was the second graduation held since the headquarters opened in May 2010.

It was a lively affair MCed by Dernel Metellus, leader of a local Volunteer Ministers group.  Three yellow tents were erected in the courtyard for the occasion and more than 250 guests filled the benches and cheered as certificates were presented to the new VMs.

The need for a local headquarters and training center became apparent within weeks of the Haiti earthquake.  First, Volunteer Ministers arriving on the scene gave medical assistance, distributed food and supplies, or helped with construction of buildings and sanitation facilities. But right from the start, the Volunteer Ministers provided their own unique form of disaster relief, based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard, Founder of the Scientology religion—Scientology assists that speed recovery from illness, injuries, loss and trauma.

In hospitals and clinics, villages and refugee camps, as people saw the results of this technology they wanted to learn to use it to help their friends and families.  Many Volunteer Ministers who came to help in the first two months have since returned to Haiti, determined to continue to do their part to ensure the country fully recovers.  And interest from the Haitian people was so intense, it soon became clear a central base of operation would be needed.

The Volunteer Ministers headquarters in Petionville was established in May 2010 to coordinate the work of local groups, provide a base of operation for Volunteer Ministers from outside the country, and train new Scientology Volunteer Ministers group leaders who would then train their members to deliver seminars throughout the island.

Volunteer Ministers technology is contained in the Scientology Handbook.  In addition to Assists, the Handbook also covers communication skills, solutions to a dangerous environment, Study Technology and 15 other subjects—all aimed at helping people improve their lives and the lives of those around them.  From disaster relief in the wake of catastrophe, the goal has now expanded to providing the full array of technology to help the people of Haiti build a new future for their country.

Beginning with a few small groups in Port-au-Prince, Delmas and Carrefour, this grassroots movement has expanded to more than 500 groups actively delivering Volunteer Ministers services throughout Haiti.

The students at the August 13 graduation ceremony completed  intensive training and received official certificates signed by their supervisors and the head of the Volunteer Ministers operation in Haiti. One by one, the graduates came forward to receive their certificates to the applause of the crowd of fellow students and friends.

Eight months after the Haiti earthquake left vast sections of the country in ruins, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Haiti Disaster Response Team continues to provide relief to the Haitian people.

The first priority in January was saving lives—the care of the injured in local hospitals and clinics.  But, with the worst of the medical emergency over, there was still an enormous task ahead.  More than 1.5 million were left homeless; an estimated 230,000 had died; nearly everyone lost family members and friends; schools and colleges collapsed; businesses were destroyed—and all in a country already suffering from the greatest poverty, worst literacy levels and lowest life expectancy in the Western Hemisphere.

The task was daunting.  But the Scientology Volunteer Ministers who arrived in Haiti from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Russia, Australia and Latin America were determined to make a difference.  So while they continue to provide medical assistance and deliver food to camps and orphanages, over the past six months they have concentrated on establishing more than 600 local Volunteer Minister groups and training the members in basic Scientology Volunteer Minister technology to reach out into camps and outlying villages with help.

In creating the Volunteer Ministers program in 1976, L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “A Volunteer Minister does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence.  Rather, he is trained to handle these things and help others achieve relief from them and new personal strength as well.”  The Volunteer Minister does this by using the technology of Scientology to change conditions for the better.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers, traveling to outlying villages, load supplies into a tap-tap bus. Tap-taps are privately owned vehicles—a cross between a cab service and public transportation.

Tens of thousands of MREs, “Meals Ready to Eat,”self-contained meals like those used by American soldiers, were shipped to Haiti in April on a cargo ship sponsored by the Church of Scientology.  Volunteer Ministers load MREs onto a tap-tap to distribute to outlying villages.

A team of Volunteer Ministers travel to a village to provide seminars in Scientology assists, technology developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard to address the spiritual factors in illness and injury and help the individual overcome trauma.

More than 7,000 Haitian Volunteer Ministers are now trained to deliver seminars throughout the island.

Hundreds of Scientologists in Tampa Bay have donated over 300,000 volunteer hours in one year alone

_{Clearwater Scientologists organize the Say No To Drugs Holliday Classic to promote drug-free living.}

Clearwater—A Volunteer Awards Ceremony will be held in the historic Fort Harrison to honor the over 800 Scientologists in Tampa Bay who have donated over 300,000 volunteer hours to raise funds for the needy, rehabilitate inmates in Florida’s prisons, tutor children, and to spread the message of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights and that a Drug Free Life is More Fun. Pat Harney, the Public Affairs Director for the Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization will be presenting the awards. She said, “In 1961, L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology wrote: ‘…a being is only as valuable as he can serve others.’ This is an ideology that Scientologists internationally practice, including those here in the Tampa Bay area and I want them to know that they are appreciated for the tremendous work they are doing to raise the standard of living of the people of Tampa Bay and throughout Florida.”

Harney continued, “Participation in Scientology volunteer groups, however, is not just limited to Scientologists. People of all faiths are welcome to volunteer, and most of our programs count a wide range of community volunteers.”

Here is a partial list of the volunteer groups established and led by Scientologists in the Tampa Bay area:

THE COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER (CLC): Holly and Brendan Haggerty founded the Community Learning Center to provide kids a safe place to learn and to go to after school for arts programs and sports. The proud parents of four children, they have now expanded their services to include literacy programs for adults. Though based right outside of downtown Clearwater, their after-school tutoring programs are running in Pinellas, Dade, Hillsborough, Alachua, Broward-Deerfield and Broward-Ft. Lauderdale counties. Their 89 volunteer tutors have helped some 500 students in the past year alone.

CRIMINON – FLORIDA: Founded here in Florida about 15 years ago, Criminon Florida is currently run by Clearwater resident Susan Broughton. A chapter of Criminon International, Criminon Florida offers character building criminal rehabilitation programs through correspondence courses in 85% of the 75 prisons in the state and has over 2000 inmates enrolled. This activity is 100% volunteer all the way, volunteer supervisors grade inmates lessons, while others ensure that the course is properly administered.

SAY NO TO DRUGS RACE: 20 years ago, Clearwater resident and world-class runner Sandra Johnson started the Say No to Drugs Holiday Classic to promote an anti-drug message through a road race. A team of 200 volunteers produces this race, which now brings over 1,000 runners a year. From executives to chiropractors, to Boy Scout troops to sponsors, all contribute to making this event a success. Now under the direction of Chris Alexander, the race continues to be a draw for elite athletes and weekend warriors alike.

THE WAY TO HAPPINESS: Written by Mr. Hubbard in the early 1980’s, the Way to Happiness is a non-religious moral code designed to help young and old make decisions about their lives that will enable them to flourish. Here in Tampa Bay, the Way to Happiness Club, led by Clearwater resident Betsy Cramb, distributed 125,000 free booklets and held 52 events last year to educate children in the application of this non-religious moral code to improve their survival and the survival of those around them.

THE CLEARWATER COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS (CCV): What originally started as the Women’s Auxiliary of the Church of Scientology, the Clearwater Community Volunteers holds fundraisers and events throughout the year for the benefit of local charities. These include Winter Wonderland in downtown Clearwater, the Easter Egg Hunt in Coachman Park, and Fashions-with-Flair Fashion show which just held its 8th annual event at the historic Fort Harrison. From these events, CCV is able to contribute tens of thousands of dollars each year to worthwhile local charitable organization such as the Make a Wish Foundation and the Children’s Home of Tampa. Realtor and self-proclaimed Professional Volunteer Pamela Ryan Anderson now heads up this group which utilizes the talents of over 800 volunteers.

FOUNDATION FOR A DRUG FREE WORLD, FLORIDA: Led by Julietta Gil, this group was founded to educate people about the dangers of abusing harmful drugs. This chapter of the international Foundation for a Drug Free World gave 30 drug education lectures in schools throughout Pinellas and Hillsborough County to about 3,500 people in one year. They also offer drug free educational pamphlets, and have distributed 75,000 over the last two years. Through partnerships with a multitude of groups, such as the Dunedin Blue Jays, the Clearwater Downtown Partnership and the Sunscreen Film Festival, youth are sworn in as “Drug Free Marshals” who pledge not only to lead a drug-free life, but also to educate themselves and others about the harmful effects of drugs.

HUMAN RIGHTS AWARENESS: The protection of basic human rights has been a hallmark of the Church of Scientology since its earliest days. Here in the Tampa Bay area, two groups have picked up the torch to educate people about what their rights are and how they can defend them: the Tampa Bay Chapter of Youth for Human Rights and the Human Rights Group. Members of Youth for Human Rights give presentations on the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights in schools throughout Pinellas and Hillsborough County. They have also passed out thousands of booklets and public service announcements depicting the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Headed up by Linda Drazkowski, the Human Rights Group held its fourth annual Walk-a-Thon this March in St. Petersburg’s Straub Park. More than 1,000 people from many different faiths and backgrounds marched in support of human rights.”

To find out more about the work of Scientologists as volunteers log on to www.scientology.org.

HOLLYWOOD—More than 1,400 guests attended the 41st Anniversary Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre Gala in Hollywood on Saturday, August 7. The guest list included many of the Church’s well-known members, including John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Leah Remini, Anne Archer, Erika Christensen, Nancy Cartwright (voice of Bart Simpson) and Jenna Elfman.

The annual event highlights the humanitarian programs sponsored by the Church—programs addressing drug abuse, human rights, moral values for a modern world, illiteracy and disaster relief.

The evening’s guest speakers included California Congresswoman Diane Watson; LAPD Hollywood Division Captain Beatrice Girmala; Mr. Albert DeCady, Special Advisor to Haitian Ambassador Raymond Joseph; and the former Liberian Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Nathaniel Barnes.

Congresswoman Watson told the audience of her history in working with the Church: “As a public servant I’ve had the privilege of a close working relationship with you for many years on many vital issues of our society, and especially since becoming the U.S. Representative for this district in 2001. The relationship has been productive because your social programs are for people no matter who they are—and it has been rewarding because they work, and the resources you so generously provide are very effective.”

Ambassador Barnes traveled to Los Angeles from Washington, DC, for the event, to thank Church staff and parishioners for their work in his previously war-torn country and neighboring West African nations, citing the Church’s human rights programs and volunteers for sparking a human rights movement in his native Liberia.

“We now have more than 9,000 youth activists—young people who are educated, who are taking a stand and actively imparting human rights principles crucial for the continued peace and stability of not only Liberia, but all of Africa,” he said. “I would like to personally express our deep gratitude to you for giving these young people a new lease on life by empowering them.”

John Travolta and Kelly Preston were publicly acknowledged by Mr. Albert DeCady, Special Advisor to Haitian Ambassador Raymond Joseph, for personally flying medical personnel and four tons of needed supplies to his native Haiti in the weeks following the January 12 quake that devastated the island nation.

Mr. Travolta described the programs he has engaged in for many years with hands-on volunteer work and support: “What we are doing around the world—the programs for drug rehabilitation, for education rehabilitation, for the Scientology Volunteer Ministers that help in all the disaster areas around the world—there are so many programs our group is involved with.”

The popularity of Scientology among artists and professionals in many fields mirrors its current growth internationally, expanding more in the last year than the last five years combined and more in the last five years than in the five previous decades. The rapid expansion is fueled by word-of-mouth based on successful application of the religion’s practical principles to improve conditions in life. Scientology Churches, Missions and affiliated groups now exceed 8,500 in 165 countries. Concurrent to the increased international interest, new Churches of Scientology are opening at an exponential rate, with three new Churches opened in the last month, seven in 2010 alone and a dozen in the last year.

Celebrity Centres are those Churches of Scientology established to provide artists, professionals and leaders in every field with a distraction-free environment to practice their religion. Whether for up-and-coming artists or established public figures, Celebrity Centres provide an atmosphere where all can discover Scientology for themselves.

L. Ron Hubbard once wrote, “A culture is only as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamed by artists.” As an artist himself, Mr. Hubbard understood how important those dreams are to the creative person. He recognized as well that artists supply the spark of creativity and the vision leading the society into tomorrow.

The Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre in Hollywood was founded in 1969. Celebrity Centres in other world cultural centers include New York, Paris, Nashville, Vienna, Florence and London, and in February of this year the new Church of Scientology & Celebrity Centre Las Vegas opened its doors. Celebrity Centres, like all Churches of Scientology worldwide, are open to the public.

The Scientology religion was founded by humanitarian and author L. Ron Hubbard. Worldwide there are more than 8,500 Churches, Missions and affiliated groups in 165 countries.

Since the beginning of 2010, the Church of Scientology has opened seven new Churches in Seattle, Washington; Pasadena, California; Mexico City, Mexico; Los Angeles, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Quebec City, Canada; and Brussels, Belgium. Each is configured to provide the full services of the Scientology religion to parishioners and to the community, housing extensive public information multimedia displays, and ministering religious services in efficient and aesthetic spaces, including congregational services in expansive Chapels. These new Churches have expanded their ministry of religious services many times over, giving more than a million new people the opportunity to find out about Scientology.

Each of these new Churches is active in its community while also providing a strong base for Scientology-sponsored social and humanitarian programs aimed at curbing drug abuse, illiteracy, immorality and criminality, as well as restoring human rights, assisting individuals with personal troubles, and helping in times of disaster, both natural and man-made.

Another five new Churches of Scientology are scheduled for completion before the end of 2010.

 Australian Scientologist Peter Dunn prepares to return to Haiti in July

_{Australian Volunteer Minister Peter Dunn, helping to raise the spirits of group of Haitian children}

ADELAIDE—”I want to help,” says teacher Peter Dunn, 61, on why he is returning to Haiti   with the Scientology Haiti Disaster Response Team.  “As a trained Scientology Volunteer Minster I knew I could help and felt it was something I personally needed to do.”

Troubled by the images of the destruction of Haiti that played non-stop on his TV screen in Adelaide, Dunn contacted the Scientology Volunteer Ministers international headquarters in Los Angeles, confirmed they were deploying a disaster response team to Port-au-Prince, paid for a ticket from Australia to Haiti and told them to count him in.

Arriving in early February, Dunn spent nine weeks in Haiti.  He describes the  conditions then as “pretty rough.”  “After an exhausting day and a shower in a bucket of water, you’d fall asleep and be startled awake by military jets taking off in the middle of night,” he says of his first weeks living in a tent at the Port-au-Prince airport.

Dunn’s days were filled with helping refugees in IDP (internally displaced persons) camps and children at the orphanages.  “These people lost everything,” Dunn said.  Some of the IDP camps had tents, but at one where he volunteered 1,500 people lived under sheets of plastic draped over sticks and held up by string.

“I went to the camps as part of a medical team and helped triage people to get them whatever medical help we could,” says Dunn.  He also provided Scientology assists—procedures developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard to relieve the spiritual aspects of trauma and speed healing.  “We gave hundreds of assists each day,” he said.

Dunn, who is heading back for another three months in Haiti, was struck by how fast people responded to the assists, despite the language barrier and the losses they suffered.  “And people would come up and thank the Volunteer Ministers and ask to learn how they could deliver assists themselves to help the others in the camps,” Dunn says.

Before Haiti, Dunn spent the past several years teaching English as a second language in China and Thailand.  But Haitians are unique, he says “Living under the most severe conditions they nevertheless carry themselves with dignity and personal pride.”

Even before returning home to Australia in April, Dunn was planning his next trip to the country.  “I was amazed at the resilience of the Haitian people, and I want to help them in any way I can.”

By Amanda Pinto, New Haven Register Staff
apinto@newhavenregister.com

Earthquake survivor Ralph Gedeon prepares to leave for St. Anne Virginie Grimes Rehabilitation Center outpatient treatment in New York.

NEW HAVEN—Five months ago, Ralph Gedeon was lying trapped beneath a pile of rubble when the engineering college he attended in Port-au-Prince toppled in the 7.0 earthquake that hit the island nation.

His leg was crushed and several organs were failing when his father, after digging for a day and a half, rescued Gedeon from the tumbled remnants.

Miraculously, on Sunday, the earthquake survivor stood on two legs — one of them a prosthetic—and packed his bags as he prepared to leave the Sister Ann Virginie Grimes Rehabilitation Center on Chapel Street.

Gedeon’s progress is a miracle, and seeing him walk brings tears to the eyes of Dr. David Gibson, an orthopedic surgeon who teaches at the Yale School of Medicine and is affiliated with the Hospital of Saint Raphael.

“This is what you do it for,” he said. “It is really heartening to see him walk.”

But for Gedeon, who will now begin outpatient treatment in Rockland, N.Y., walking is only a part of his positive journey.

When he eventually returns to his home country, he will have a permanent prosthesis that will even allow him to play soccer, and he’ll have an engineering degree that will enable him to help others injured in the earthquake, said Ayal Lindeman, the emergency medical technician, nurse and Scientology volunteer minister who was on a mission in Haiti when he met Gedeon, 22.

Gedeon will also take classes at Rockland Community College, and will likely receive a scholarship from the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading to continue studies in engineering, Lindeman said. He will switch his concentration from electrical to mechanical engineering so he can focus on creating and improving orthotics and prosthetics to help Haiti’s thousands of amputees, Lindeman said.

Gedeon has come quite a long way for a man who contemplated accepting death rather than enduring an amputation that could have left him shunned in Haiti, where amputees are degraded, Lindeman said.

After Gedeon was rescued, his father, Raphael Gedeon, told Lindeman ‘I love my son, but I cannot condemn him to this life.’ At that moment, Lindeman thought of the motto on the back of his mission jacket, ‘Something can be done;’ he called his friend Gibson and promised Ralph Gedeon a leg and a life.

Now Gedeon has had nine surgeries, his care has been provided at no cost by St. Raphael’s and a prosthetic donated by a manufacturer. He has been tutored, free of charge, in English.

He used a cane to walk from the rehabilitation center Sunday, but routinely lifted it as he waved and joked with the small crowd of well-wishers who gathered to see him off.

Of his ability to walk, Gedeon smiles and simply says, “We’re progressing.” “(I thought I would walk) because Ayal promised me, and second, I’ve seen people walking (on prosthetics) in the movies,” he said.

He said his leg, which is still healing, is a bit uncomfortable, but he was full of smiles and hugs for the group—which included Marie and Marc Roseme, housekeepers in the facility who are originally from Haiti— who bid him an emotional goodbye.

His father, who arrived in the U.S. Friday, said through a translator Sunday that he was at a loss for words for what his son has accomplished, and for the generosity bestowed upon him.

“I don’t have an expression that would fit,” he said. “Just thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Reprinted with permission of the New Haven Register.

Watch the video by clicking on the image:

A good-looking young man in a t-shirt and sweat shorts walked down the street about half a mile from Yale University this weekend.  Two things distinguished him from the thousands of other students living in this college town—the gentle Creole lilt to his voice and a prosthetic leg.  Meet Ralph Mary Gedeon, 22, a Haitian engineering student who was buried alive when his school collapsed from the Haiti earthquake January 12, 2010.

It took more than one miracle to save Ralph Gedeon’s life that day.  In fact it took several miracles that came in the persons of his father, Raphael Gedeon and a Scientology Volunteer Minister from Rockland County, New York.

Ralph’s father, Raphael Gedeon, counted himself lucky when the shaking stopped and his home was still standing.  But the elation turned quickly to anxiety when his son, an engineering student at University GOC in Port-au-Prince, failed to return home from school. His growing fear became worse than a nightmare when he arrived at the college and found a mound of rubble where the school had been.  Another man might have given up in despair right then.  But Raphael was determined to find and save his son. He kept walking throughout the destroyed campus, calling his son’s name.  A day later the first miracle occurred.

When the college collapsed Ralph was pinned face down under tons of concrete and cinder block.  And he was not alone.  Two other young men were buried nearby.  They could hear one another crying out in pain and despair.  A day passed, and Ralph was rapidly losing touch.  He suddenly had a vision of father, and cried out—”I am here!” At that exactly moment Raphael was standing right above him.  He heard his son’s cry.

It took another day and a half to break up enough of the concrete with the help of friends and pull his son from the rubble.

Some 1500 miles to the north, Ayal Lindeman, a Scientology Volunteer Minister from Rockland County, New York, was ready to leave for Haiti and was already organizing a Church of Scientology chartered flight bringing doctors, nurses and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to Port-au-Prince along with a team of Volunteer Ministers.  Lindeman left on the second Scientology-sponsored chartered flight, arriving in Haiti Thursday, January 21.

Lindeman, 54, is a disaster relief veteran, having served as a Scientology Volunteer Minister in nine major disasters including the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  Lindeman is also an EMT and licensed practical nurse (LPN).  But none of this prepared him for what he was about to see when he walked into General Hospital.

“The conditions at the hospital defied expression,” said Lindeman.  “No sanitation. For many nights, no light.  No way to protect soaked dressings from contaminated mattresses. No sheets or bed covers of any kind.  Now I’m pretty tough, but this place drove me to tears.”

Lindeman came to know the Gedeons while pulling 20-hour shifts at the hospital, and says Ralph’s father never left his son’s side.  “His father would softly ask for assistance or come and stand nearby when Ralph’s IV was close to running out.”  Lindeman assisted in a procedure done on Ralph to remove dead tissue from his leg. When the doctors saw the condition of the wound, they realized the only way they would be able to save Ralph’s life was by amputating the leg.

Ralph remembers those days at General Hospital.  “I suffered greatly,” he said.  “I never understood pain before.   The doctor told me the infection would get worse and worse and would finally reach my heart and kill me.  I would die.” They told him the only way to prevent this was to remove the leg. “But I needed a leg to walk, to get to school, to walk around the house.  I didn’t see how I could live without one.  I thought, okay—then I will die.”

Raphael dearly loves his son but would not talk him into an amputation, condemning him to a hopeless life as a cripple in a country where amputees are outcasts.

Learning that Ralph decided against the amputation, Lindeman refused to just stand by and watch the infection kill the boy.

“The motto of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers is ‘Something can be done about it,’ and here was a circumstance where I really had to pass this test.”  He decided to call an old high school friend, Dr. David Henry Gibson, now Chief of Orthopedic Surgery Yale University Medical School.  Cell phone calls were simply not going through, but he tried anyway, the phone rang and Dr. Gibson picked up.  Knowing Lindeman’s commitment to help, no matter where it is needed, he said “I won’t even ask where you are.  What do you need?”  Lindeman told him about Ralph—that he wanted to get Ralph a prosthetic leg.  Dr. Gibson’s answer—”I’ll do it.”  He agreed to do whatever it took.  The Hospital of Saint Raphael in New Haven, Connecticut agreed to cover the hospital stay and all additional expenses.”

Lindeman then went to see Ralph, and told him, ‘you have to live a long life because some day your father is going to need you to be there for him, the way he is here for you now.’ I made him a deal—if he went through with the surgery to amputate the leg, I would personally see that he got a prosthetic leg and the physical and occupational therapy to live a normal life.”

Ralph had the operation, a mid-thigh amputation, and now Lindeman had to keep his end of the bargain.

With the medical care lined up, it was then a matter of getting Ralph to New Haven, Connecticut.  The young man was in such serious condition, he would need continuous care from the time he left Haiti until he got to St. Raphael’s hospital.  Military and private aid agency simply weren’t set up to provide this kind of service.  After  contacting every possible lead, Lindeman finally found ISTAT, the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading.  “They not only agreed to fly Ralph to the US they also took on transporting two other hospital cases who would die without specialist care in the U.S. They were incredible.”

Entrusted by Raphael to care for his son, Lindeman flew with Ralph to Tweed Airport in Connecticut where an American Medical Response ambulance arranged by Dr. Gibson rushed them to St. Raphael’s hospital.

Once admitted to St. Raphael’s, there were several more hurdles for Ralph to overcome.  The surgical team found the infection was in Ralph’s bone.  “If he hadn’t been brought to the US and given the level of expert care he received from Dr. Gibson and the St. Raphael’s team, Ralph would eventually have lost all the bone up to the hip and even that might not have handled it.  He would have died.” said Lindeman.  It took 10 separate surgical procedures to make it possible for Ralph to have a prosthetic leg he could use.

Ralph says this experience has taught him two things: patience and personal strength.  “I could not have made it for two days when I was buried under the rubble and then in the hospital without patience.  I never had it before.  I learned it then,” says Ralph.  “The second is that I never understood pain before.  I suffered greatly and now I understand how people suffer.  I understand others better and it has given me the strength to live.”

“I went through with the operation because Ayal promised me I would have a leg.  He didn’t want me to die, and now I can walk,” says Ralph with a smile.  “I thank the Church of Scientology and Scientologists for everything they did to help me.”

As for learning to use his new leg, Ralph says, “They said it would take me six months, but in a few weeks I could walk with a cane and now I can walk without it.”

And about Lindeman, Ralph says “He gave me my life.  He is like a father to me.  He gave me everything. He treated me like a son.”

On Friday, June 25, Ralph’s father Raphael will be arriving in at JFK Airport in New York, to visit his son.  Thanks to Lindeman, the next time they meet, Ralph will walk over to greet his father—on his own “two feet.”

For more information on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers, visit their website at www.volunteerministers.org.

_{The Conchoo Dance Group performs a traditional dance, welcoming the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour to Papua New Guinea.}

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers South Pacific Goodwill Tour was officially welcomed by traditional dancers and local dignitaries at a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Murray Army Barracks in Papua New Guinea June 7.  Tour members and officials spoke of working to tackle illiteracy and poverty through seminars and courses that the tour will provide at local level throughout the island.

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals include improving  literacy as a pivotal target for eradicating poverty, increasing opportunity and guaranteeing other human rights.  Of all Pacific island nations, Papua New Guinea ranks lowest in both literacy and standard of living, with some 30 percent of the population living on a dollar or less a day.  To make inroads against this crucial problem, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour is providing free seminars and courses to teachers and students across the island.

Established in 1976 by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program enables people to better cope with common problems and stresses of life and independently improve their situations.  Scientology Churches and Missions provide training in Volunteer Ministers know-how and sponsor Volunteer Ministers activities in their areas.

In 2004, to extend the reach of the Volunteer Ministers program, ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige launched the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tours, enabling teams of volunteers to bring help to remote areas including South and West Africa, Southern Asia, India, the South Pacific, Eastern Europe, Siberia, the Australian Outback, and Latin America.

For more information, visit the Scientology Volunteer Ministers website.

Pétionville, Haiti—The Church of Scientology International Volunteer Ministers opened a new headquarters Saturday, signaling a new level of commitment to the people of Haiti in rebuilding their country.   Located just east of Port-au-Prince, the new headquarters will facilitate the staging and coordination of operations, and provide temporary housing for volunteers from outside Haiti.

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit just west of the capital city of Port-au-Prince January 12 killed an estimated 200,000, injured 300,000 and left one million homeless.  By January 17 Scientologists had orchestrated the arrival of 130 doctors, nurses, EMTs and Volunteer Ministers in Haiti.  Working with United Nations and U.S. Army personnel at the country’s main airfield, initial actions included organizing and dispatching personnel and supplies.  But within hours, the volunteers were manning hospital tents, supply lines, and search and rescue teams.

Operating on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers motto “Something CAN be done about it” the Scientology volunteers concentrate on bringing order into the immediate chaos of a disaster site and alleviating trauma through the use of Scientology Assists, “spiritual first aid” that speeds physical and emotional recovery.  In alignment with their motto, Volunteer Ministers also bring a myriad of personal skills to a disaster zone, such as the trained midwife  who helped deliver a baby less than a day after she arrived in Port-au-Prince, and six more over the next week, in dilapidated buildings amid aftershocks, electrical outages.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers have provided disaster relief around the globe for more than 20 years.  In Haiti, over 300 from 22 countries answered the call for disaster relief and 3,000 Haitians have joined them in their efforts.  Together they have brought physical and spiritual relief and order back into the lives of an estimated 360,000 Haitians.

Maria Reyher, International Director of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers, says the new Haiti headquarters gives a new level of stability and service potential to their relief and recovery activities in Haiti.  “Thousands of Haitian people want to be involved in bettering the plight of their country and we have workable tools to help them,” says Reyher.  “They face many rudimentary and complex problems and our new headquarters provides a stable place to make it possible to help them on an even wider scale.”

For more information on Scientology Volunteer Ministers activities in Haiti visit the Scientology Volunteer Ministers blog.

_{Paris Morfopoulos (far left) with other Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Haiti}

Clearwater, Florida—Paris Morfopoulos, best known to Downtown Clearwater visitors as the calm but cheerful owner of the One Stoppe Shoppe, just returned from a tour of duty as a Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Haiti.

A Volunteer Minister is defined by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard as “…a person who on a strictly volunteer basis helps out his fellow man by providing simple, basic counseling to people he meets to assist them in overcoming difficulties they may be having in life.” Volunteer Ministers are trained in basic Scientology techniques through the Scientology Handbook.

This is Paris’ second trip to the earthquake-damaged country. “I can tell you that there is a lot of enthusiasm and activity in helping to rebuild the shattered country and  lives of the Haitian people,” he said. “The physical infrastructure is still in shambles and the rubble seems to be largely still where it was when I was last there in February. But many, many people are pitching in and the work is going forward.”

Paris was impressed most with the spirit of the Haitian people, who despite living in makeshift tents—some as rudimentary as a bed sheet held up by four poles—greeted him and his fellow volunteers with a friendly smile.

“We were welcomed everywhere and even spent over an hour with one of Haiti’s most prominent lawyers.  He was very grateful for our assistance since the earthquake. He told us ‘After the quake, there was no hope left in Haiti. But then the Volunteer Ministers came and there was hope!’”

In the last few months since the earthquake, many thousands of people have been trained in basic Scientology techniques so they can assist their fellow Haitians.  Over 300,000 people have been helped through the Volunteer Minister program in Haiti.

“We still have Russian Volunteer Ministers actively helping at the General Hospital every day,” said Paris, who also met Volunteer Ministers from Hungary, Mexico and France.

While in Haiti, Paris also visited the Future of Haiti Orphanage, which is providing a safe environment, a stable home and a good education to 150 children who would otherwise still be roaming the streets of Port-au-Prince after their previous orphanages collapsed in the quake.

“I visited with Michela Schneider, the director of the orphanage, and the children,” said Paris. “I was very touched by their friendliness and affection. I brought a backpack full of gifts for one child, a beautiful ten-year-old girl with the very appropriate name ‘Lovely’. It made her very, very happy and she wrote a very touching letter that I brought back with me to give to her sponsor, Ericka Miranda.”

Paris encourages people to find out more about the orphanage at their website, www.thefutureofhaiti.org

As a closing note, Paris wanted readers to know that though Haiti has disappeared from the evening news, there is still much to be done in that country.

“If you would like to help, either financially or by going there and giving these people a hand, contact the Volunteer Ministers at vm@volunteerministers.org and let them know. They will help you get there. It is tough and there is much that is unpleasant to confront, but it is truly rewarding and you will fall in love with the people of Haiti.

For more information on Volunteer Ministers Haiti disaster relief visit blog.volunteerministers.org

Scientology Volunteer Ministers from Haiti and other nations march from the Port-au-Prince suburb of Carrefour to the city of Léogâne to garner support for the next phase of Haiti relief.

Flag Day in Haiti May 18 took on new significance this year as Haitians and friends from around the world reaffirmed their commitment to rebuild the country from the January 2010 earthquake.

In this spirit, 100 Haitian Scientology Volunteer Ministers, joined by dozens of Volunteer Ministers from abroad, made the hour-long march from the Port-au-Prince suburb of Carrefour to the city of Léogâne Tuesday, May 18, waving the Haitian flag with its motto “unity and freedom” and carrying bright yellow banners proclaiming “Something can be done about it”-the motto of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers.

In the village of Mariani on the outskirts of Léogâne, Scientology Volunteer Ministers from Canada, Russia, the Ukraine, Mexico, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark and the United States joined their Haitian colleagues in the Haitian national anthem while Max Beauvoir, Haiti’s main voodoo leader, raised the Haitian flag at the Volunteer Ministers tent where volunteers provide free training and one-on-one help.

Haitian Flag Day marks the day in 1803 when native leaders ripped the white field out of the French  “tri-color” flag, forming a symbol of unity in their decade-long fight against French oppression that kept 500,000 enslaved on the island. Eight months later, this became the official flag for the new nation of Haiti.

Despite the passion and determination of the Haitian people, which made Haiti the only nation ever formed of a successful slave revolt, even before the January earthquake Haiti was the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.  Some 300,000 Haitian children were orphaned or living without parents.  Of 182 nations on Earth Haiti ranked 125th in literacy and 158th in Gross Domestic Product per capita.

These factors and a host of other social issues indicate it was not just an act of nature that devastated Haiti in January.  These issues are what the Scientology Volunteer Ministers address in their training.

For example, there is no official building code in Haiti, and the city of Port-au-Prince was doomed to collapse.  Anne Kiremidjian, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, described it in these terms: “Even a moderate sized event would have toppled these buildings down.  This earthquake was a very large event and they had absolutely no chance of standing up.” 
While Scientology Volunteer Ministers continue to do relief work and construction projects in Haiti hospitals, clinics, orphanages and refugee camps, they are working on a longer-range program to tackle the underlying social issues that brought Haiti to the brink of destruction and ensure the country emerges from this disaster a strong society whose people have the opportunity they deserve.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers have opened 300 Volunteer Ministers groups in Haiti and are training government agencies, community and religious leaders, educators, students and scouts.  With so many traumatized, they begin with a seminar called “Assists for Injuries and Illnesses,” containing technology developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard to handle the emotional and spiritual effects of loss and injury.  They follow up with training in study technology to increase literacy and the ability to apply one’s education.  Then come workshops in the basics of organization, planning, and communication skills, to ensure the people of Haiti have the tools they need.

In developing the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program in 1976, L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “It is important to understand bad conditions don’t just happen. The cultural decay we see around us isn’t haphazard. It was caused. Unless one understands this he won’t be able to defend himself or reach out into the society with effectiveness.” To learn more about the courses and seminars visit the Scientology Volunteer Ministers website. To follow the work of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Haiti, visit the Volunteer Ministers Blog.

Four months after the earthquake, an overview of the accomplishments and what remains to be done

Four months since the 7.0 earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Disaster Response team carries on its work in hospitals and clinics while they train disaster workers, refugees, teachers and students and help in the reconstruction effort.  Since January 12, 2010, more than 300 Scientology Volunteer Ministers from 21 countries have given aid to more than 300,000 people, including thousands of orphans, in the form of shelter, food, medical care, training and trauma counseling.

Within a week of the disastrous day, the Church of Scientology chartered the first of the six flights that transported 369 medical professionals and rescue workers to Haiti with Volunteer Ministers to support them in their work. They also transported 263,000 pounds of food, medical and other supplies to the country, and distributed it to refugees, charities, schools, hospitals and clinics.

The medical infrastructure in ruins, Scientology Volunteer Ministers assisted in operating rooms, delivered babies, organized medical supplies and cared for and fed patients.  For weeks, Scientology Volunteer Ministers worked in the General Hospital of Port-au-Prince and the University of Miami tent hospital and in makeshift hospitals and clinics around the city. One Volunteer Minister team helped a Haitian aid organization rebuild an orphanage that now cares for 111 orphans.  Others teamed up with military and aid organizations to distribute food and medical supplies throughout western Haiti.

With hundreds of thousands dead and injured, Scientology volunteers have been providing one-on-one help, seminars, workshops and classes in technology developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard that help people cope with stress, loss, grief, pain and shock.

Reaching out with organizational and logistics support to refugee camps in Port-au-Prince and outlying towns, Volunteer Ministers have helped set up eight camps around Haiti and another one on the Dominican Republic border to help refugees and bring food and supplies into Haiti. They have also trained more than 281 Haitian Volunteer Minister teams that have joined them in helping in neighborhoods and camps throughout the region.

The next phase of Haiti relief is the long-term work to rebuild the country, and Volunteer Ministers are active in this too, working with local residents to construct shelters and reconstruct sewage and water systems.

Created more than 30 years ago by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, the Volunteer Ministers program has expanded to 203,000 Volunteer Ministers worldwide who have served at 175 major disaster sites.  More than 800 Volunteer Ministers responded to the World Trade Center disaster; 500 from 11 nations served in relief efforts in Southeast Asia, India, Thailand and Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami; nearly one thousand volunteered in Louisiana and Mississippi after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  They have been featured on Good Morning America and CNN and in stories in National Geographic, The New York Times, The Economist, The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

Volunteer Ministers have trained and partnered with more than 800 different groups, organizations and agencies including the Red Cross, FEMA, the National Guard, and police and fire departments and are active members of VOAD (Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters). Their work in Haiti is an example of how they carry out the Volunteer Ministers motto: “Something can be done about it.”

For more information on the Scientology Haiti Disaster Response, visit the Volunteer Ministers blog.

Kenya Scouts who trained as Scientology Volunteer Ministers helped in the search and rescue action following mudslides in the Bududa District of Uganda.

UGANDA—A team of Kenya Scouts who are also Scientology Volunteer Ministers traveled to Uganda last month when massive mudslides killed 94 and displaced 30,000 from their homes.   Led by Elly Rajab, 22, the Scouts joined Uganda Army rescue workers in their search for 500 people missing in the flood-affected area.

Arriving in Uganda from Nairobi, Rajab and his team learned from  survivors in IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps and from the Red Cross and the Uganda Army where their help was most needed.  With hundreds still missing, the first priority was search and rescue—work that had to be done by hand with shovels and picks, as use of heavy machinery could trigger further landslides on the heavily saturated ground.

The Volunteer Ministers also distributed food and supplies and provided simple but powerful Scientology techniques, called “assists,” developed by L. Ron Hubbard to help people in the camps overcome the disorientation and trauma of losing their homes, families and possessions.

In Nairobi, the previous year Rajab had trained as a Scientology Volunteer Minister to gain practical skills that he and his fellow Scout leaders could use to help the people of their country.  After completing free online training in communication skills, conflict resolution, organizational basics and other subjects offered at www.volunteerministers.org, in fall 2009 Rajab arranged for Kenya Scout leaders from Mombasa, Marsabit, Kisumu and Nakuru to join him in Nairobi for a series of seminars provided by a Volunteer Minister sent from United States to Kenya.  Since the seminars, the Scout leaders have in turn trained hundreds more Scouts in their own regions in Scientology Volunteer Minister technology.

For more information on Scientology Volunteer Ministers disaster response, visit blog.volunteerministers.org.  To enroll on the free online courses, visit the Volunteer Ministers website.

NASHVILLE—The Church of Scientology & Celebrity Centre Nashville mobilized Volunteer Ministers to staff shelters at Lipscomb University and McGavock High School over the weekend when the Cumberland River overflowed its banks and flooded downtown Nashville, causing thousands of residents and visitors to evacuate homes and hotels.

Flooding began in low areas and valleys on Saturday, May 1, and by Sunday the Cumberland River overflowed into downtown. Vehicles were swept away, homes were engulfed and authorities were rescuing stranded residents by boat.

Muddy water cascaded into The Grand Ole Opry House and Country Music Hall of Fame and forced the evacuation of 1,500 guests and 500 staff from the Opryland Hotel.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers worked with the Red Cross and other community groups to aid evacuees in shelters at Lipscomb University and McGavock High School, including providing food services. They helped evacuated hotel guests find their luggage and make their way to the airport and home.

Scientologists also volunteered at a shelter set up at the Jewish Community Center for stranded residents of Belle Meade and Bellevue and helped evacuate tenants of an apartment complex that was about to be engulfed.

With waters now receded, the volunteers are helping residents with the daunting task of cleaning up flood damage.  “We started with our parishioners whose homes were badly damaged.  Now we are going through neighborhoods checking at each home to see if they need help,” said Julie Forney, Public Affairs Director for the Nashville Church of Scientology.

The Volunteer Ministers program is an integral part of the community outreach of the Church of Scientology & Celebrity Centre of Nashville, which opened its doors at 1130 8th Avenue South, in April 2009.  At the grand opening celebration, Mr. David Miscavige, ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion, acknowledged the Nashville Scientology Volunteer Ministers for their dedication and effective aid to hundreds of families after the 2008 Lafayette tornado.

The Volunteer Ministers program was created by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard in 1976.  He wrote: “A Volunteer Minister does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence. Rather, he is trained to handle these things and help others achieve relief from them and new personal strength as well.”

For more information on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program, visit their web site at www.volunteerministers.org.

In the first months after the January 12 earthquake, Scientologists sponsored five planeloads of doctors, nurses and medical supplies to Haiti.  With aid still desperately needed, the Church has now sent a “Lifeboat for Haiti” with 100 tons of humanitarian supplies.

HAITI—A team of 100 Scientology Volunteer Ministers and aid workers representing 22 countries, including 70 from Haiti, worked around the clock this weekend, unloading 100 tons of humanitarian supplies urgently needed in the still-ravaged country. The ship, a former US Coast Guard icebreaker chartered by the Church of Scientology, docked at Terminal Abraham in Carrefour, a commune in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, and for 25 hours, scarcely stopping to eat and sleep, volunteers passed thousands of boxes of supplies from the ship to the wharf.

The volunteers unloaded an ambulance, water filters, and 712 boxes of medications and medical supplies.  They brought ashore crutches, walkers, 40 wheelchairs and 150 caskets, 1,260 pounds of canned meat and 40,000 pounds of MREs (meals ready-to-eat) and other food products and clothing.  There were also 450 pounds of supplies for orphanages, including diapers, baby wipes, baby formula, toiletries and toys.

Relief agencies have been shipping tons of rice into Haiti, but many in the IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps have no way to cook the rice to feed their families.  So on “Lifeboat for Haiti,” a charity sent 55 tons of wood-burning stoves, each stove the size of a hotplate, and wood pellets, because there is no local wood to burn in the deforested country.

The ship also transported boxes of training materials for the Scientology Volunteer Ministers—booklets called Assists for Illnesses and Injuries.  Based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard, these booklets describe Scientology techniques that help people overcome trauma and loss and address the spiritual factors that can slow down or prevent injuries and other physical conditions from healing.

Once unloaded, the tons of supplies were delivered to the Port-au-Prince General Hospital, Elmwood Church of God, the Haiti Relief Task Force, Notre Dame Catholic Church, Future of Haiti Orphanage, AIMER Haiti, Hôpital Haiti Medicare, the Pan American Development Fund, Notre Dame de la Nativité Orphanage and Operation for Humanitarian Concerns.

The humanitarian endeavor was truly international.  In addition to the Haitian volunteers, 25 of them students from the Salesciano College in Carrefour, the team included a Volunteer Minister from Russia, Vladimir Leskov, who directed the project.  Pablo Arriago from Mexico coordinated it with local Haitian officials.  American Chad Adams organized the volunteers, Dennis Pajala from Sweden kept track of the cargo. Heading up the teams of volunteers were Margaux Delomez, France; Rhiannon Weber and Elizabeth Ribera, US; Sergei Klek, Russia; Evan Morkel, Switzerland; Mike Vig, Hungary; and from Haiti, Wibens Lorzeme, Daniel Piquant, Saintil Pierre Antoine, Ricardo Philidor and Etienne Max Merilien.   Photographing the entire project was American Conrad Radzik.

“We sent our ‘Lifeboat for Haiti’ to help charitable organizations in the United States transport their donated supplies,” said Maria Reyher, Los Angeles-based international director of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers.  “There was such an outpouring of help from churches, community groups and foundations, we decided to charter a ship to help them get their humanitarian supplies directly into the hands of the people who needed them.”  The Church had earlier chartered five planes to transport medical supplies and doctors, nurses and EMTs to Haiti along with teams of Scientology Volunteer Ministers to provide the medical teams with the support they needed to do their work.

For more information on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program, visit the web site at blog.volunteerministers.org.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers from Russia complete journey across 10 time zones helping thousands along the length of the Trans-Siberian Railway

A team of Scientology Volunteer Ministers from Russia have completed a 19,000-mile journey across 10 time zones—a journey that began in Moscow four years ago.  Since August 2006 these volunteers have traveled the length of the Trans-Siberian Railway giving lectures, seminars and courses to some 8,000 individuals on communication skills, study technology, conflict resolution, salvaging marriages, raising happy children and 14 other subjects contained in the Scientology Handbook. In each location they trained Volunteer Ministers and established groups to continue to help their communities.

On August 1, 2006, a 20-member Scientology Volunteer Ministers team boarded the Trans-Siberian Railroad at the first station on the line—the Yaroslavsky station in Moscow—and began a trek across 5,800 miles and 10 time zones to the Pacific Ocean seaport of Vladivostok.  In the summer months they set up their signature yellow tent—a 3,400-square-foot pavilion with lecture rooms, classrooms, and a display describing the Volunteer Ministers program.  In winter months, when temperatures never rose above zero for months on end, they provided their services in rented halls.

Trans-Siberian Goodwill Tour leader Sergey Nikitin said, “We are here to provide effective help—that is our purpose.  Our motto is ‘Something can be done about it,’ and that means not only in times of major disasters and emergencies but in everyday life.”

The Volunteer Ministers delivered lectures and seminars and provided classes and one-on-one help in Perm, Ekaterinburg, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Zheleznogorsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita, Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk and Vladivostok, in hospitals, orphanages, government offices, fire station, invalid centers,  veteran associations, businesses, clubs or women’s groups.

To ensure the courses and assistance would continue to be available with neighbor helping neighbor, in each city the Volunteer Ministers trained local residents as Volunteer Ministers and helped them establish groups to sustain the assistance after the tour moved on.

Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard created the Volunteer Minister program in answer to escalating crime and violence in the later 1960s and early 1970s, to provide practical tools for engendering understanding and compassion. The program has expanded to 203,000 Volunteer Ministers worldwide who have served at 185 disaster sites, including Ground Zero after 9/11, the Southeast Asia tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and Haiti.
For more information on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers, visit their website at www.volunteerministers.org.

Scientology Volunteer Minister, nurse and EMT Ayal Lindeman at Port-au-Prince General Hospital in March 2010 with Benitha, whose life he and a Haitian physician saved.

It was January 2010, a week and a half after the 7.0 earthquake hit Port-au-Prince.  Benitha, a dying Haitian woman in a ward at General Hospital, called out for help—to no one, to everyone.  Earlier that day, attempts to help her failed because they didn’t have the needed equipment or medications.  Medical staff were stretched far beyond their ability to cope—with a handful of doctors covering the entire compound and hundreds and hundreds of patients in urgent need of care, there was nothing more they could do for Benitha.  The woman was literally drowning in her own fluids.

The nurse on the ward was Scientology Volunteer Minister Ayal Lindeman. “I went up to Benitha and put my hand on her shoulder,” said Lindeman.  “I told her ‘if this is it—if you are going to go on this part of your journey and this is how it’s going to be, then you’re at least going to know you’re cared for, you’re at least going to know you’re loved, you’re at least going to know you matter and you’re not going to be alone, and I don’t know what else I can do for you—but at least I’ll do that.”

While scouring the hospital to find anything he could to help her, Lindeman met a Cuban-trained Haitian pediatrician in one of the many tents of the hospital compound. Hearing of the woman’s condition, the doctor told him of a procedure often done in Cuba without high-tech equipment.  If Lindeman could scrounge the parts to create the device he would need, they might be able to save her life.

Lindeman built the device from a 16-gauge needle, intravenous tubing and regulator wheel, an empty water bottle that he cleaned out with bleach, and some tape to make a butterfly valve.  With this apparatus, they worked together and removed two liters of fluid from the woman’s abdomen.  Her blood pressure dropped six points and she started to recover.

Lindeman remained in Haiti for four weeks, leaving in mid February only to bring three patients to the United States for care they could not get in Haiti.  He returned to Haiti in March.  He describes walking back onto the ward at General Hospital and seeing one the most beautiful sights of his life—a huge smile on the face of the woman whose life he helped save.  Benitha was alive, recovering and making plans for life outside the hospital.  Having lost everything she owned in the earthquake, she asked Lindeman for one more favor: a tent to live in when she got out of the hospital.

“From a woman everyone feared would never live through that night, this was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard,” said Lindeman.

Back again in the United States, Lindeman was checking out the price of tents at a local store one day after work, still in his scrubs. Another shopper noticed his Project Medishare for Haiti bracelet and asked if he had been to the country. “When I said yes, she said she had donated money for Haiti but wanted to do something where she knew she had really made a difference,” said Lindeman. “I told her about the woman who needed a tent, and she insisted on paying for it on the spot. She had bought Benitha a home.”

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers program was described by L. Ron Hubbard in the following terms when he created it more than 30 years ago: “A Volunteer Minister is a person who helps his fellow man on a volunteer basis by restoring purpose, truth and spiritual values to the lives of others.”  For more information on the Scientology Haiti Disaster Response, visit the Volunteer Ministers blog at blog.volunteerministers.org.

The Church of Scientology honored five Florida groups during National Volunteer Week.
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA—The Church of Scientology in Clearwater honored five Florida groups with National Volunteer Week awards at the historic Fort Harrison Friday, April 23.  Recognized at the event were Project Medishare, Feeding America Tampa Bay, United Way Tampa Bay, the United Relief Force Foundation and the Willa Carson Health Resource Center.

_{Accepting awards and $1000 pledge at a National Volunteer Week luncheon at the Fort Harrison, presented by Church of Scientology Public Affairs Director Pat Harney (center) are (left to right) Annie Tyrell, Executive Director of the Willa Carson Health Resource Center; Ernestine Carson Heastie, daughter of Willa Carson and board member of the organization; Harney; Muhammad Abdur Rahim, Carson Center board member; and Judy Fagerman, head of Scientology Volunteer Ministers of Tampa Bay. The pledge is for the Carson Center 5K and 10K walk/run fundraiser.}

“We know the value of volunteers and our parishioners work actively to address drug abuse and crime, clean up the environment, tutor children and adults and do any of the myriad tasks it takes to improve the quality of life in our communities,” said Pat Harney, Public Affairs Director of the Church of Scientology in Clearwater.  “We join other Americans in honoring those who freely give their time and energy to help others.”

_{Willene Hayward (left), Volunteer Coordinator of Feeding America Tampa Bay, is acknowledged by Pat Harney, Church of Scientology Public Affairs Director, and Judy Fagerman, head of Scientology Volunteer Ministers of Tampa Bay.}

Willene Hayward accepted the award on behalf of Feeding America Tampa Bay, formerly known as America’s Second Harvest.  Hayward is volunteer coordinator of the food bank that serves 35,000 Tampa Bay residents.

Also honored were Project Medishare of the University of Miami Hospital, which organized, built and staffed the largest field hospital in history on the airport grounds of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to care for the casualties of the January 12 earthquake; Hands On Tampa Bay, the volunteer network of United Way of Tampa Bay, which coordinates the work of 3,500 volunteers in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties; and the United Relief Force Foundation, formed by Orlando college students in 2007 and providing humanitarian aid, emergency response and disaster relief to countries experiencing natural and man-made disasters. Several of the Orlando group’s members joined forces with the Scientology Volunteer Ministers to help provide disaster relief in Haiti this year.

“This award event was inspired by the founder of the Scientology religion, L. Ron Hubbard, who said, ‘A being is only as valuable as he can serve others,’” said Harney.  The Church of Scientology makes facilities of the Fort Harrison Hotel available to non-profit charity organizations for their meetings and events.

For information or to schedule the Fort Harrison for events, contact Pat Harney at (727) 467-6860 or email her at patharney@flag.org.

Marking National Volunteer Week, Scientology Church praises 1,000 volunteers for more than 150,000 hours in Haiti relief effort

The Church of Scientology International, mother church of the Scientology religion, today acknowledged 1,000 volunteers who have served in Haiti since the January 12, 2010, earthquake.

The Rev. Robert Adams of the Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology International presented a special Letter of Commendation to Scientology Volunteer Ministers International director Maria Reyher, citing the life-saving actions of all the volunteers who were sponsored by the Church to travel to Haiti.

“Through the dedicated work of these volunteers, thousands of Haitian lives were saved,” said Rev. Adams in the ceremony at the Church’s international headquarters. These volunteers have logged more than 150,000 volunteer hours giving aid to more than 200,000 individuals in hospitals and clinics, IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps, schools and orphanages.

“It is only fitting that in this National Volunteer Week, we say thank you to these volunteers, Scientologists and non-Scientologists alike, who served with dedication and effectiveness in this time of extreme need in Haiti. Others are alive because they served,” Rev. Adams said.

Volunteer Ministers International director Maria Reyher accepted the Letter of Commendation from the Church on behalf of all 1,000 volunteers, those who went to Haiti and the hundreds who worked behind the scenes making it possible for the Church to charter five flights and a supply ship to bring volunteers and 131 tons of humanitarian supplies to Haiti.

“Volunteers are the backbone in any relief effort, but all the more so in Haiti where help was and still is so desperately needed,” said Reyher. “Every volunteer who served there knows that human beings are alive today because someone was willing to help, despite sometimes extreme personal hardship and discomfort.”

“This award is their award,” Reyher said, announcing that her office is presenting all 1,000 volunteers with copies of the Letter of Commendation—Scientology Volunteer Ministers and those who traveled with the Scientology team to Haiti, including volunteers from AMHE (Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad), BSVAC (Bedford-Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps), Amerihelp (AHAMES), Hands for the Needy Foundation, A.I.M.E.R. Haiti and the 911 Foundation.

In establishing the Volunteer Ministers program in the 1970s, Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote: “A Volunteer Minister does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence. Rather, he is trained to handle these things and help others achieve relief from them and new personal strength as well.” “There has never been a time when this mandate has been more important,” said Rev. Adams.

Reyher confirmed that the Scientology Haiti Disaster Response Team is in Haiti “for the long haul, committed to helping the people of this country rebuild their nation and their lives.”

For more information on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Haiti Disaster Response, visit the Volunteer Ministers blog at blog.volunteerministers.org.

 
_{Scientology Volunteer Ministers Richard Girard (center) in the ruins of Haiti, featured in an article in the North Adams Transcript.}

By Ryan Hutton
Tuesday April 20, 2010

ADAMS—After spending six weeks in Haiti, Adams resident Richard Girard is back in the Berkshires with tales of his trip.

The 63-year old building contractor departed for Haiti on Feb. 22 and returned April 5 after helping with a Church of Scientology relief mission in the earthquake-ravaged nation. Girard departed from the church’s Boston headquarters and first went to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

From there, he took a bus into Haiti with a Hatian-American woman whose family was still in Haiti and whom she had not seen in 25 years. Girard said they arrived in the middle of the night and met with the woman’s sisters and brother.

“They were incredibly hospitable,” he said. “They made sure I had food and water until I got to the mission. They were very friendly. Her sister was actually taking care of a 12-year-old girl who had to be given up by her family because of the earthquake.”

Girard eventually arrived at the church’s camp in Santos, a suburb of Haiti’s capital, Port au Prince. The church had set up an orphanage in Santos that had 60 children in it when he arrived and over 110 when he left. Girard left for Haiti with several soccer balls as a goodwill gift, and when he arrived at the orphanage, found the perfect use for them.

“I gave the soccer balls to them and they were really pleased to have them,” he said. “I’d go down there a bunch of times to practice with the kids. We also had about 25 Russians in our camp and about 20 Mexicans—and those guys had some really good soccer players. We wound up playing a couple really good games with the kids.”

Girard said the church had set up seven camps around the capital, and he and his fellow volunteers would visit each them providing whatever aid they could. He said they also visited two of the hospitals in the area, including one run by American doctors from Miami.

Girard said the volunteers would accompany medical staff and disaster relief specialists into the camps and hospitals and perform a Scientology-based physical therapy called touch assist—which is used to relieve pain—on the people of the camps.

He said they would also teach civil response training to the locals so they knew how to better cope with disasters in the future.

“Pretty much everyone is living in tents,” he said. “What we would do is go into the camps and give assists or help the people that were giving medical attention—really anything we could do.”

Not long after he arrived, Girard got to see the first school reopening in the entire country. The school, near the capital, had 3,000 children ready to attend on the first day alone.

While the school was rebuilt to better specifications than before, Girard said a lot of the locals still had lingering doubts left over from the quake about entering a building.

“At first, people were afraid to go into the buildings,” he said. “But after all the work they saw us doing with the assists and relief work, they had the confidence to enter the school buildings.”

Even though he is back in the States, Girard said he is still looking for ways to help the people of Haiti by working with some people he met on the trip to open a lumber yard in the country. He said that would provide much needed jobs and building material.

While he went there to help, Girard admitted he also went seeking adventure but, he added, he found a lot more.

“I’m really happy I went. I wanted to go there and do something to help, but I guess at the same time I was looking for a little adventure,” he said. “From time to time, your life can get stale, and I definitely had an adventure. The main thing I was impressed with was that down there, I feel like I found the bottom level of survival.

“Survival doesn’t get any tougher than it is in Haiti right now. There are people living under tarps and using sheets for walls. There were holes in the ground for toilets and you took a shower out of buckets. But I found that the people, as poor as they were, were always well groomed, they go to church every Sunday, and they were cheerful. It was amazing.”

HAITI—A Scientology-sponsored “Lifeboat to Haiti” arrived in Port-au-Prince April 8, carrying more than 100 tons of urgently needed supplies including medicine, medical equipment, an ambulance, food, cooking stoves and tents. 

In the first weeks following the earthquake, the Church of Scientology sponsored five chartered flights, bringing more than 440 doctors, nurses and emergency medical technicians and 280 Scientology Volunteer Ministers to the island, helping more than 200,000 people through their combined efforts in the first two and a half months. 

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers are in Haiti for the long haul, not only providing disaster relief but also working with local government and civic groups and community leaders who are determined to improve the quality of life for all Haitians. 

Scientology Volunteer Ministers work in the IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camps providing food, water, and other supplies and training people in Scientology Assists—techniques developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard that help the individual overcome the emotional and spiritual aspects of trauma and stress. 

The Volunteers Ministers are also establishing a base in Petionville to provide free training to individuals and groups including teachers, students, disaster relief groups and government agencies.  This training addresses the underlying social issues and skills needed to bring about lasting improvement. Seminars and courses include subjects such as communication skills, the basics of organizing and study technology.  So far, they have provided seminars and classes to over 8,000 local residents.

For more information on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Haiti Response Team, visit their web site at blog.volunteerministers.org.

The NBC affiliate, WTVJ Miami, came out to film the Scientology Volunteer Ministers loading a ship with supplies for the Haiti relief effort.

Click to watch the video

Representatives of the Miami Haitian Community Award Scientology Volunteer Ministers for Haiti Disaster Relief Effort

MIAMI (March 19, 2010)- A Scientology-sponsored ship is loading up with supplies for Haiti, including wood-burning stoves from the charity founded by the Lola Poisson-Joseph, wife of the Haitian Ambassador to the United States.  The 896-ton Hornbeam, a former U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker, is transporting more than 165 tons of cargo to Haiti including an ambulance, a school bus and more than 20,000 Meals Ready to Eat.

In a dockside ceremony welcoming the Hornbeam to Miami, North Miami Beach City Council member John Patrick Julien presented the Scientology Volunteer Ministers with the key to the City of North Miami Beach on behalf of Mayor Myron Rosner and a proclamation dedicating a day to a Scientology Volunteer Ministers for their work in Haiti.

Also present were Phillip Brutus, former Florida State Representative and current candidate for U.S. Congress; Daphne D. Campbell, RN, Haitian community leader and candidate for the Florida State House of Representatives; Marleine Bastien, executive director and co-founder of Haitian American Women Association (FANM) and the Haiti Relief Task Force; and Marie Yolaine Ferdilus, co-chair of Haitian Relief Task Force and founder of Legal Protection of America.

The supplies on the “Lifeboat for Haiti,” scheduled to depart for Haiti this coming week, were donated by more than a dozen churches, charities and groups and will be delivered to schools, orphanages, hospitals, churches and disaster response groups in Haiti, including the Notre Dame de la Naiveté Orphanage, AIMER Haiti, Operation Compassion, and the Scientology Haiti Disaster Response Team, which has provided emergency relief services in Haiti for the past two months.

Since the January 12 earthquake, the Church of Scientology has transported more than 360 medical professionals and 300 Volunteer Ministers to Haiti.  The Scientology Volunteer Ministers continue to provide support to doctors, nurses and EMTs, deliver food and water to the IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps, and help with reconstruction, disaster response training and trauma relief.

For more information on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers, visit their web site at blog.volunteerministers.org.