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PHOTO CAPTION: Since the pandemic began, Scientology Volunteer Ministers of South Africa have provided more than 1.1 million hours of service to their communities.<\/em><\/p>\n
Mandela Day commemorates the birthday of Nelson Mandela\u00a0\u201cin recognition of the former South African President\u2019s contribution to the culture of peace and freedom.\u201d Its message:\u00a0\u201cEveryone has the ability and the responsibility to change the world for the better.\u201d It is this very purpose that has inspired South African Scientology Volunteer Ministers every day since the pandemic began. The Church of Scientology International features their work in a\u00a0series of videos\u00a0<\/a>on an interactive timeline on the Scientology website.<\/a><\/p>\n With a Level 4 lockdown in place in the country to counter the third wave of COVID-19, Scientology Volunteer Ministers of South Africa marked Mandela Day 2021 by suiting up and heading out for yet another day of service.<\/p>\n In response to the pandemic, since March 2020, these volunteers have:<\/strong><\/p>\n The volunteers also provide educational booklets to help people understand how to keep themselves and their families safe by applying effective protocols. These booklets, available to read or download from the\u00a0How to Stay Well Prevention Resource Center<\/a>\u00a0on the Scientology website,\u00a0are published in 21 languages including Zulu, Sotha and Xhosa\u2014the native languages of nearly half the nation. South African Volunteer Ministers have handed out more than a million copies of Stay Well booklets.<\/p>\n One of the stories featured on the interactive timeline on the Scientology website<\/a> quotes an executive in the railroad sector.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my entire career life, I have not actually been contacted by someone who wants to assist government,\u201d she said. Some 300,000 people travel through the Johannesburg station daily and although their crews disinfect and clean, they have not been able to decontaminate them. When this executive heard that the Scientology volunteers offered to do this, she thought \u201cIs this for real?\u201d And she rushed to the station to see for herself and was amazed to see them performing this service free of charge.<\/p>\n \u201cYou do things with discipline, with commitment and with precision,\u201d said another transportation executive. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019ve learned from each one of you. The passion\u2014it will remain with me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou guys came in here to help us,\u201d said the SAPS (South African Police Service) colonel in charge of a Johannesburg precinct in one of the videos. \u201cYou guys take care of our foot soldiers by sterilizing our vehicles. This is what we call police-community partnership. It sends a message to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n The volunteers also clean and sanitize orphanages and homes for the elderly and train caregivers on how to protect themselves and those under their charge. One caregiver described his dilemma: although it puts him at risk to come to work, he sets his concerns aside because those in his facility need his help. He is grateful that the Volunteer Ministers disinfected the home and made sure the staff and their beneficiaries learned how to care for themselves.<\/p>\n Mandela Day emphasizes empowering\u00a0others\u00a0to serve, and here too the Volunteer Ministers excel. By training others on the skills of the Volunteer Minister, they have impacted the lives of more than 11,000 South Africans who have taken part in Scientology Tools for Life seminars and courses.<\/p>\n When she started learning the 19 Tools for Life Courses, a school principal didn\u2019t want to stop until she finished them all. \u201cThey are related to my everyday life and living,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n A bishop from Pretoria said this knowledge is the key to eradicating poverty and hunger.<\/p>\n A pastor from Mmametlhake said the Scientology courses completely changed how she counsels her congregation because now she can listen and once she understands what is bothering them, she has a spiritual toolkit she can empower\u00a0them\u00a0with.<\/p>\n A pastor from Pretoria admitted that he thought he \u201cknew it all,\u201d but he now sees he didn\u2019t. \u201cThese courses helped me be a better person,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Church of Scientology response to the pandemic has been global and is illustrated by more than 1,200 images and 14 videos at\u00a020\/21: A Look Behind & A Look Ahead<\/a>\u00a0on the Scientology website.\u00a0The interactive timeline including all videos may be viewed in 17 languages.<\/p>\n The Church of Scientology\u00a0Volunteer Ministers program<\/a>\u00a0is a religious social service created by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard in the mid-1970s. It constitutes one of the world\u2019s largest independent relief forces.<\/p>\n For more information, visit\u00a0https:\/\/www.scientology.org\/2021\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
![https:\/\/www.Send2Press.com\/300dpi\/21-0721s2p-cos-safrica-300dpi.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n*Caption: Since the pandemic began, Scientology Volunteer Ministers of South Africa have provided more than 1.1 million hours of service to their communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES, Calif., July 21, 2021 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Protecting the most basic human right of all, the right to life, South Africa’s Scientology Volunteer Ministers continue to serve Mandela’s beloved country. Mandela Day commemorates the birthday of Nelson Mandela “in recognition of the former South African President’s contribution to the culture of peace and freedom.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8949,"featured_media":73626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[608,12804,10,187,56],"tags":[16526,16300],"class_list":["post-73667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion-news","category-ap","category-california-news","category-los-angeles-news","category-non-profit-news","tag-mandela-day","tag-scientology-volunteer-ministers","has-post-title","has-post-date","no-post-category","no-post-tag","no-post-comment","has-post-author"],"acf":[],"views":3536,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8949"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/www.Send2Press.com\/300dpi\/21-0721s2p-cos-safrica-300dpi.jpg\"){kind=link}