Blogs

Mr. Pedaiah Paul M. Teba, Director of the World Light Caring Mission of Uganda

At the request of educators in the Bushenyi District of southwest Uganda, in May 2011 a team of Kampala-based Scientology Volunteer Ministers led by Mr. Pedaiah Paul M. Teba, Director of the World Light Caring Mission of Uganda, traveled the 200 miles from the nation’s capital to provide a series of seminars. More than 5,000 teachers, parents, students and children attended the seminars that local officials hope will become an ongoing tradition.

Sometimes, it’s the simple things that make the biggest difference. A Volunteer Minister who helped in the wake of the Joplin, Missouri tornado in May 2011 described how much people appreciated his willingness to do some hard work.For several hours, he and some other volunteers helped a woman dig through the wreckage of her home. She was so grateful about the dishes and glasses they salvage—these were cherished possessions that had belonged to her mother.

August 20—27, 2011, has been designated International Volunteer Minister Week in honor of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers whose work has become synonymous with unconditional help.

It is said that when Sultan Mansa Musa made his pilgrimage from Mali to Mecca in the 14th century, he brought with him so much gold and treasure that for centuries the legend prevailed that the roofs of Timbuktu were covered with gold and its rivers ran over beds of precious metal—a far cry from the Mali of 2011, with 73 percent of its 14.5 million people living on less than a dollar a day.The courses and seminars of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour in Mali provide tools to help overcome economic and educational barriers and their oppressive consequences.

Joava Good helped lead the Scientology Volunteer Ministers disaster response in Pratt City, Alabama, following the April 27, 2011, tornado.

Just returned to Utah after five weeks in Alabama on the Churches of Scientology Disaster Response following the April tornados, Scientologist Joava Good is a 35-year veteran Scientology Volunteer Minister who has helped put the program on the disaster response map.

Pratt City, Alabama, was like a war zone.

Scientologist Al Adriance

The meaning of the word “devastation” was brought home once again to Al Adriance. Although a disaster relief veteran who provided help after the 2007 Greensburg, Kansas, tornado, Adriance was stunned by the destruction he saw in Joplin, Missouri, in May 2011.

Al Adriance will long remember Memorial Day Weekend 2011, not for the celebrations and parties, but for what he confronted in Joplin, Missouri, after the May 23 tornado.

Learning of the disaster, the Kansas Citian left for Joplin the following morning and spent the next 10 days providing relief.

Scientologist Churlya Wurfel (far left) trained nurses in Indonesia on Scientology assist technology after a 2009 earthquake

Scientologist Churlya Wurfel is determined to make Scientology assist technology broadly available to those in need. 

Spring Valley, New York, Mayor Noramie Jasmin (center) awards Ralph Mary Gedeon (right) a plaque commemorating Ralph Mary Gedeon Day—July 12, 2011. At left is LPN, EMP and Scientology Volunteer Minister Ayal Lindeman who saved Gedeon’s life.

An amazing young man, whose life was saved by a Scientology Volunteer Minister after the Haiti earthquake, is determined to make a difference for his country.

Spring Valley, New York, Mayor Noramie Jasmin has designated July 12, 2011, as Ralph Mary Gedeon Day in recognition of the courage and resolve of a young survivor of the January 2010 Haiti earthquake.