Pulling Together for a New World

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers met with the governor of the region, who thanked them for being there to help his people.

Here is what they encountered when they arrived:

"There is only one road into Albay, where all the effected villages are. The roads on the way here are extremely damaged and some only have one lane left due to landslides. Thirty minutes after we crossed a bridge on the way into Albay, the Bridge collapsed and there is no longer access to the area by road!

The people of the Philippines are still digging out from the destruction of Typhoon Durian.

"There is no electricity in the area, and this applies to a 200 km (124 mile) radius. Some businesses have generators. We are staying in a hostel that has a generator, which they turn on at night.

"We arrived at 4pm and went to the headquarters for all government organizations that are providing relief.

Then we met with the governor of the region. We told him we would be helping those who had been evacuated. He thanked us for being here and told us to coordinate with the social welfare office if we need anything."

Next they went to a relief center where 500 people who had been evacuated were staying.

"Emily delivered an assist* to a young girl who was extremely despondent and unresponsive. After about 15 minutes she suddenly opened her eyes and knew what was going on around her."

This went on for the rest of the day with Scientology Volunteer Ministers delivering assists and training people in the center to give assists to others.

The following day the team went to another school that was the evacuation center in Banag. There were people in every classroom and 19 large tents set up to hold more - 788 people in all. The Principal welcomed them and introduced them to all the teachers, who were taking care of those who had been evacuated.

The volunteers told them they were there to help and started delivering assists.

As more and more people lined up for help it became apparent they could cope with their needs one-on-one, so they held a workshop for 30 people whom they trained to provide assist, and supervised these newly trained volunteers as they used these techniques to help their friends or family.

One of the volunteers found a woman who was completely apathetic. She couldn't talk; she couldn't stop crying. By the end of the session the woman was calm and able to communicate for the first time since the disaster occurred. The woman told the volunteer that she wanted to speak to her son. When the volunteer learned that her son lived many miles away, she placed a phone call and reached him, only to find out that the son, an executive in a major corporation in Manila, had been desperately trying to reach his mother for two weeks and had concluded that she must have died.

There are hundreds of thousands of people in need of help. If you can join the Scientology Disaster Relief Team in the Philippines, or if you can help support a volunteer on the ground, contact the International Volunteer Ministers Coordinator at vm@volunteerministers.org

*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, or to orient a confused or distraught individual to his present environment.

• Scientology Volunteer Minister Relief Corps
• Scientology
• Scientology Handbook (training for anyone on how to be a Volunteer Minister)
• Scientology in Australia
• Scientology in New Zealand
• David Miscavige on Scientology Volunteer Ministers