Giving Haiti Real Help — Part II

_{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.