Since March, South Africa’s Volunteer Ministers have been tireless in their fight against the pandemic.

Since the coronavirus lockdown began in South Africa in March, Scientology Volunteer Ministers have contributed over 200,000 hours to contain the deadly pandemic.  

The team of 286 volunteers, including some 40 pastors of various religions, have sanitized more than 7,000 buildings, from government offices to army bases, municipal offices, clinics, hospitals, police stations and bus and train stations—amounting to nearly 16 million square meters of sanitized property. They have decontaminated ambulances, army vehicles and police cars. And with an estimated 79 percent of the population depending on taxis for their transportation, the volunteers have sanitized some 260,000 of these vehicles.

Sandile Hlayisi, public affairs director for the Volunteer Ministers, explains that the volunteers are armed with the most effective decontamination substance anywhere. “We decontaminate these buildings and vehicles at our own expense,” says Hlayisi. They follow it up with hygiene education to ensure the spaces they sanitize are kept clean and free of germs. 

To extend the reach and effectiveness of the campaign, they have translated their educational materials into Zulu, Xhosa and Sotho to reach nearly half the country’s population in their native languages.

 

Shortly after the lockdown, they signed a partnership agreement with the Gauteng Department of Social Development to decontaminate more than 900 buildings including shelters and orphanages. They followed this with 150 additional partnerships from Gauteng to Kwa Zulu Natal, and the Western Cape and Eastern Cape. 

This week, the Kwa-Zulu Natal Department of Social Development signed a partnership with the Scientology Volunteer Ministers to decontaminate more than 73 old-age homes, disability shelters and orphanages.

“We love working with social development because they care for the most vulnerable people in our society,” says Hlayisi. “It is our purpose to bring succor during times like these. Nothing gives us more joy than playing our part in this struggle of ensuring that we all come out on the other side victorious.”

The Volunteer Ministers have also distributed more than 600,000 copies of educational booklets in English, Zulu, Sotho and Xhosa, empowering local residents with the knowledge they need to protect themselves and their families from the virus.

For more information or help, contact the South Africa Volunteer Ministers’ Hotline at +27 10 200 9644.

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Distribution of these booklets began in May in communities around Scientology Churches and Missions across the globe. The Church of Scientology International Dissemination and Distribution Center made this possible by printing and shipping out 5 million copies of Stay Well booklets.

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 largest and most visible international independent relief forces. The 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.”