This week the President of the Church of Scientology of Australia accepted four awards on behalf of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers who provided disaster relief in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.
Scientologists from 6 continents traveled to India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia in the wake of the 2004 Asian tsunami to help with anything that was needed, from working in refugee camps to distributing food and water to the homeless; from identifying the dead to providing solace to the survivors.
Many of the volunteers went to Banda Aceh in North Sumatra, the area most heavily affected by the disaster. With an estimated 230,000 Achenese people killed by the earthquake and tsunami and some 400,000 left homeless, nearly everyone in the region experienced loss and trauma. Scientologists, trained on techniques called assists1 developed by L. Ron Hubbard, provided “spiritual first aid” directly to 15% of the population and trained another 35,000 people to administer Scientology assists, thereby providing help to hundreds of thousands of survivors.
The awards, by the Mayor of the city of Banda Aceh, the Aceh Department of Religion, the Chairman of the State Senate of Aceh and the Governor of North Sumatra, all recognized the Volunteer Ministers for their humanitarian work.
The Mayor stated: “Banda Aceh recognizes the 200 Scientology volunteers who came from all over the world to help our people in the wake of the great Asian tsunami 2004.”
His sentiments were echoed by the Aceh Department of Religion: “Thank you all of the Scientology volunteers for helping the Achenese people after the Asian tsunami 2004. Your help changed the lives of our population.”
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.
