Worlds Village

Come on a journey through an ancient land and be captivated by its timeless surrounds. Australia’s Northern Territory presents itself in many varied guises — experience countless adventures, the best that nature has to offer, the world’s oldest living culture, and a taste of a genuinely relaxed, outdoor lifestyle. Experience the bluer than blue waters of the Cobourg Peninsula and Arnhem Land’s dramatic floodplains, which renew their look several times a day with the changing light. Amongst the lush wetlands and surging waterfalls of Kakadu, learn about life within the park with indigenous guides and see the rock art galleries of their ancestors. Float on your back in Katherine’s majestic sandstone gorges, gazing at the ancient faces of the rock walls that loom up to meet the sky. In the heart of the Territory, watch the landscape’s metamorphosis from the bronzed savannahs of the Barkly Tablelands to the washed terracottas and rusty reds of the Centre. Meet the locals and share their passion for this intriguing land, which captures hearts and minds with reckless abandon. After all, it’s been practising its charms since the dawn of time. Visit the Northern Territory, share our story, and create your own. www.travelnt.com

Image taken on 2008-10-06 12:58:26 by Rita Willaert.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour tackles illiteracy and drug and alcohol abuse in the Australian Outback.

A team of Scientology Volunteer Ministers, a community service organization, whose work includes disaster relief and emergency response, is traveling through Australia’s Outback to provide individual assistance based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard.

While Scientology churches reach out to help people in their own communities, Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tours, such as the one in the Outback, travel to remote locations to bring help everywhere and anywhere.

In February 2008, the Australian Government formally apologized to the Aboriginal people, many of whom live in the Outback, for the highly discriminatory actions of previous governments.  One of the worst—known as the “Stolen Generation”—was a state-sanctioned policy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through which many Aboriginal children were taken from their homes and placed in foster care.

In his 2008 apology, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stated his government’s commitment to creating “a future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country.”

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Outback Goodwill tour is helping to accomplish this goal, with effective solutions for the most serious challenges facing people in this region, including courses, seminars and one-on-one help to bring an end to illiteracy and substance abuse.

There are Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tours in the South Pacific, Eastern Europe, Africa, South America, Russia and Asia.

For more information on the the Scientology Volunteer Ministers visit their web site at http://www.volunteerministers.org.

Outback

Scientology Volunteer Ministers Outback Goodwill Tour—Traveling through the outback helping one person at a time

Scientology Volunteer Ministers, traveling through the Australia Northern Territory, are bringing help on a one-on-one basis, where help is needed.

Australian Aboriginal culture may well be the oldest continuous living culture on Earth, beginning an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 years ago.  But over the past two centuries the culture and rights of the indigenous people have taken a tremendous toll.

Last year, the Australian government formally apologized for the past wrongs caused by successive governments to the indigenous Aboriginal population, acknowledging its laws and policies had “inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss”.  And the government’s formal support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples last April was acknowledged by the Australian Human Rights Commission, as a “giant step,” toward “embracing the fundamental guiding principles of mutual respect and partnership.”

To make a real difference at grassroots level, the issues that impact the lives of indigenous Australians need to be addressed.  A team of Scientology Volunteer Ministers, traveling through the outback, are bringing help to the Aboriginal community, one person at a time.

They help people where they work and live, visiting them in their homes, on the streets and in the camps. They provide seminars in skills such as conflict resolution, communication and the basics of organization.  They tackle literacy problems by training parents, teachers and civic leaders on the technology of study developed by Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard.

Addiction and substance abuse, particularly alcohol and inhalants, are serious problems in the community and the volunteers use technology from the Scientology Handbook to help people withdraw from drugs and alcohol.  They accompany this with Scientology assists to overcome the pain and discomfort associated with withdrawal.  Scientology assists are procedures that greatly increase the speed of healing by addressing the emotional and spiritual factors in illness and injuries.

“I have experienced a reinvigoration in my faith in humanity and my will to live,” wrote one man who was helped by the Tour. “I can now expand and achieve my intention in life,” he went on to say.  “Being associated with you and the materials has given me a glow in life—it’s come back. I feel good. … I’m happy and grateful. There is nobody else in Alice Springs like you people.”

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Outback Goodwill Tour has taken to heart the spirit in which Mr. Hubbard created the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program: “If one is going to find fault with something, it implies that he wishes to do something about it and would if he could. If one does not like the crime, cruelty, injustice and violence of this society, he can do something about it. He can become a Volunteer Minister and help civilize it, bring it conscience and kindness and love and freedom from travail by instilling into it trust, decency, honesty and tolerance.”

For more information visit the Scientology Volunteer Ministers web site.