Acehnese offered alternative therapies

Acehnese offered alternative therapies

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Aceh

Abdussalam lay face down on one of five stretchers in a tent
where several foreigners clad in yellow T-shirts helped people
who had approached the Scientology volunteers in search of
consolation.

Andre, a Swede, lightly stroked the 36-year-old over
particular nerve points before asking him to roll over and
inquiring whether the displaced resident of Lamhu village, Inin
Jaya in Aceh Besar felt any better.

The volunteer then led him outside by the hand and ordered him
to touch the bus parked by the tent, the trees and the shoulder
of a passersby to regain his sense of something solid.

Abdussalam and his friends have not slept soundly since Dec.
26, when an earthquake and ensuing tsunamis leveled parts of Aceh
and North Sumatra provinces.

"I always feel as though the earth is moving under me,
although others convince me that there is no aftershock. None of
us can sleep, including my wife, who is nine months' pregnant.
But she doesn't want to come here ... I feel much better now, I
already feel sleepy. I'll come back for more treatment," he told
The Jakarta Post.

A couple walked in brought by a relative, who said the waves
had wrenched their three children away from them. The father had
lost his ability to hear and his right hand was injured.

Talking in broken Indonesian, another volunteer asked them to
be seated and began to massage them, again asking whether they
felt any changes. The two were soon relaxed and expressed their
gratitude.

At the far end of the tent, another volunteer was teaching
massage techniques to body retrievers. It was hoped that the
therapy would alleviate their stress after seeing unimaginable
scenes of death and destruction. Two students from Lhokseumawe
were also being trained by Scientology volunteers.

"We're here to help people to heal themselves," Wayne Saunders
of Perth, Australia, told the Post.

The volunteers from many parts of the world are apparently
working hand-in-hand with members of a Muslim organization, who
will give the patients religious instruction after their
massages.

The Scientology volunteers said they planned to stay for a
month.

With over 105,000 people killed in Indonesia and thousands of
others still missing, the health ministry has estimated that half
of the over 605,000 displaced people in Aceh are suffering from
mental problems, ranging from severe to minor breakdowns, with
symptoms such as insomnia, anxiety, confusion, depression,
delusion and excessive fear of water.

According to Wayne, the Scientology team offers various self-
help methods that are useful in helping survivors recover.