Two Men Help Tackle Poverty in Uganda with the Scientology Tools for Life

Even in Uganda, where malnutrition is the cause in the deaths of four in ten children under age 5, two Scientology Volunteer Ministers prove that “Something can be done about it.”

In Uganda, some 40 percent of the population lives in poverty and almost half of Ugandans are under the age of 15, making this one of the youngest populations in the world. A passion for empowering the people of this country brought two ministers together: Samuel Richard Sembuya is a Christian priest and missionary committed to the spiritual and physical transformation of Uganda communities and Jan-Maarten Kruijt, a Dutch Scientologist, shares his passion.

Rev. Sembuya discovered the Scientology Tools for Life on the Scientology website, quickly completed all 19 courses, and realized he now had the tools to help local communities overcome the challenges they face. But fairly new to the program, he wanted the help of an experienced Volunteer Minister to train a corps of volunteers who could work as a team to upgrade villages in the districts of Jinja and Buikwe. He reached out to the international headquarters of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers and requested an on-site seminar.

Some 6,000 miles away in Amsterdam, Jan-Maarten Kruijt, a Scientology Volunteer Minister, learned about Sembuya and immediately volunteered to travel to Africa to provide this training. 

Together these two men set in motion an initiative they hope will change the region from one beset by poverty to one with a future.

 

Kruijt took Sembuya’s core volunteers through seminars on the Scientology Tools for Life. He and Sembuya introduced the Jinja fire and police departments to the program and the volunteers, who now help authorities whenever needed. They trained local teachers on educational methods developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard to ensure youth can make the most of their education. And they planned and executed projects to help those affected by misfortune, and vulnerable members of the community, all the while training new Volunteer Ministers in villages throughout the region.

There is much to be done, but Sembuya and his team are up for the challenge.

The Scientology Volunteer Minister program is a religious social service developed by Mr. Hubbard in 1973 and sponsored by the Church of Scientology International. There are now hundreds of thousands of people trained in the skills of a Volunteer Minister across 185 nations.

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.”

Mr. Hubbard developed the Scientology Tools for Life for the training of the Volunteer Minister. These are available as free courses to anyone wishing to learn these skills to help themselves, their families, friends and society. Scientology Tools for Life training is available in 17 languages through the Scientology website and the Volunteer Ministers website.