After almost a year and a half of service to the people of Botswana, stationed primarily in Gaborone, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers (VMs) say their farewells. Rounding out the first leg of their Southern Africa tour, they are proceeding now to Namibia. As they depart, they are happy to know that they were able to truly help and leave behind new VM groups of trained local residents in nine different locations, who will carry their legacy of help forward to the rest of Botswana.

Botswana soldiers rally together after their Volunteer Minister communication course.

Botswana could not be a more perfect place for the launch of this tour. Until 2001 it suffered from one of the highest AIDS rates world over and, while this is now dropping, it is still strangling the prosperity of the nation. AIDS leads to further problems such as the 6.4 million children orphaned by AIDS in subsarah Africa, which accounts for more than half of the 12 million orphaned children world-wide and leads to poverty and economic strife.

But as Philippa Sondergaard, one of the VMs on this tour, told BOPA News in July 2005, when the tour first arrived, "we do not close our eyes to the pain and suffering that is around," further elaborating that "our motto is 'Something can be done about it.'"

Her words ring true when one considers the 41,300 people who have been contacted through this program with over 4,500 trained on VM courses based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. The courses cover subjects such as how to study, improving marriages, dealing with the ups and downs of life and much more.

Those trained on these VM courses include teachers, police, pastors, business owners and their employees, students and others from all walks of life including hundreds of officers of the Botswana Defense Force trained in Scientology techniques.

VMs bring real help by addressing the spiritual aspect of the problems in one's life.

One young lady from Block 8 of Gaborone discovered the healing powers of the VMs when her eight-year-old brother had lapsed into an uncharacteristic aggressive and unwilling state after his twin brother passed away. Increasingly alarmed by his refusal to eat she went for help and found the VMs. Through her training in the VM program she was able to relieve his pain and upset, thereby, restoring her brother to a happy and healthy state.

Others have discovered the help that VMs give, such as the two schools in Mochudi where L. Ron Hubbard's study technology was taught or the three local Pastors who took VM classes and now use the technology to help their congregations. In the Broadhurst suburb of Gaborone the VMs taught Scientology communication skills to the employees of the CB clothing store and the Woolworths Clothing and Home store.

Internationally the Scientology Volunteer Minister Corps is 87,000 strong and is the largest independent relief force on Earth with over 1.6 million people personally helped. Find out more at www.VolunteerMinisters.org. If you want to be trained as a VM in Botswana contact Janie at VM_africaoffice@VolunteerMinisters.org and she will direct you to our training centre.