Miracles are underway in a village in northeastern Uganda and the surrounding communities.

International Volunteer Day December 5 was set aside by the United Nations to celebrate positive change through volunteerism. And a stellar example of the change a team of volunteers can achieve is the work of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers of Wanga Parish, Uganda.

Martin Wamatsu had a dream: to transform Wanga Parish, the village of his birth, from a community struggling in poverty to one that is self-sustaining and providing a decent future for all who live there.

When his son introduced him to the Scientology Volunteer Ministers’ Tools for Life Courses online, he realized this was the technology he needed to turn his dream into reality. Understanding the basics of communication, organization and planning, he now knew how to set goals and accomplish them. Wamatsu and his family returned to the village, met with village elders, and gained their agreement to carry out a series of programs to achieve this goal.

 

Wamatsu reached out to a Scientologist over the internet who was as excited about his ideas and plans as he was, and she took on raising funds for the project. 

As a school principal, one of Wamatsu’s first projects was to provide a future for 70 village orphans. He and his team opened an orphanage and these children are now all in school: healthy, happy, warm, loved, and with uniforms, backpacks, coats and shoes. They have mattresses to sleep on and warm blankets. The children now have the energy to learn and take part in orphanage projects. And once the children harvest their first crop of sweet potatoes and rice, the orphanage will be self-sustaining. 

Another 25 destitute village children have received the same kind of help and have joined their orphaned friends in school. Funds are nearly in place for the remaining 45 village children to also join them at the school, which will accomplish one of Wamatsu’s goals: universal education for all village children.

During the 84-week COVID lockdown in Uganda, most people had to resort to eating their seeds to survive. With the help of his online patron, Wamatsu has now seen to the purchase of seeds, and the village has planted 15 acres of rice, and fields of sweet potatoes and cassava and maize. Once these harvests are gathered, they will have enough to feed the village, plant for the next season and sell or trade produce to nearby villages.

 

The village and six other villages nearby now have pure, clean drinking water. And they are raising funds to open a medical clinic with a nurse who is also a trained Scientology Volunteer Minister.

Wamatsu has trained his entire village and the leaders of 24 nearby villages on the Scientology Tools for Life. And they used these tools to organize themselves to work as a team to accomplish targets. They are well on their way to making Wanga a sustainable village that can serve as a model where nearby leaders can gain practical experience and return to their villages to create a sustainable region and beyond.

The Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministers program is a religious social service created in the mid-1970s by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard. It constitutes one of the world’s largest independent relief forces. Scientology ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige, calling on Scientologists to use what they know to redouble their efforts to aid their fellow man, has inspired tremendous growth in the Volunteer Ministers movement.

A Volunteer Minister’s mandate is to be “a person who helps his fellow man on a volunteer basis by restoring purpose, truth and spiritual values to the lives of others.” Their creed: “A Volunteer Minister does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence. Rather, he is trained to handle these things and help others achieve relief from them and new personal strength as well.”

Their motto is no matter the circumstances, “Something can be done about it.”

For more information on the technology used by the Volunteer Minister, watch Scientology Tools for Life on the Scientology Network at DIRECTV 320 or at www.Scientology.tv.