Arriving in Poland in May, 2006 the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Central European Goodwill Tour met with community and religious leaders to find their major areas of concern. And two issues came up over and over again — the level of poverty and unemployment, and the conditions of refugees in the country.
 | | A group of Chechnyan refugees living in Poland are training as Scientology Volunteer Ministers so they can bring this technology, developed by L. Ron Hubbard, to the thousands of other refugees living in the camps. |
On the economic front, as with other former Soviet bloc countries, Poland faces many economic challenges. Although accepted into the European Union in 2004, it has grave unemployment problems with 19% of its population jobless — over 7 million people. The average Pole is three times poorer than other Europeans. In fact Poland is the poorest country in the European Community.
And the consequence is a serious homeless problem: 60-80,000 Polish people have lost their homes and live in the streets or squat in empty buildings.
The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour is working alongside groups that provide shelters for the homeless, delivering seminars based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard to help people get back on their feet and improve their lives.
The Volunteer Ministers are also working to help with the refugee problem.
There are an estimated 3,400 refugees from Chechnya, 50-60 percent of whom are children, living in 16 camps in Poland.
A group of Volunteer Ministers are providing seminars, lectures and one-on-one help in two of the camps to several hundred refugees. They are also training a group of the refugees as Volunteer Ministers who, in turn, are visiting other camps, making this technology available to anyone who needs their help.
One of the refugees came to the Volunteer Ministers feeling hopeless about her life and future. The young woman was frustrated with being unable to earn a living. After getting some help from a Volunteer Minister she began studying the courses and realized that even if she couldn't get a formal job, she now knew how to help, and she began apply the Scientology technology she had learned to others in the camp. Then one day she got exactly what she wanted the most — the work permit she had been waiting for for more than a year — and now she is using her skill as a Volunteer Minister in her new job where she is provides child care.
While the long-term effects of the work this team is doing is hard to gauge, the words of one of the refugees gives a glimpse of the potential of this program.
"When I was in my country," said one of the refugees from Chechnya who attended the first of the Volunteer Ministers seminars on improving understanding, "I hated Russians and even hated my own people too. In fact I did not like ANYONE! In this seminar I learned why one needs to like others and to communicate with others and I started to like people. I even like Russians!"
For more information on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program and the Goodwill Tours, visit their web site at www.volunteerministers.org (english) or in Polish at www.humanitarnywolontariusz.pl.
 | | A Chechnyan woman studies the courses made available by the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Central European Goodwill Tour. |
 | | One of the refugees, who was hopeless about her future until she got help from the Volunteer Ministers, is not only helping others in the camps as a Volunteer Minister now, she just got a work permit and is providing child care, where she is using what she learned to help the children she is responsible for. |
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