'I
was like a commander:' John Travolta on leading
Scientology aid mission to Haiti
By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:11 PM on 03rd February 2010
John
Travolta says he
was 'like a commander' when he flew in aid to Haiti.
The 55-year-old star
showed off pictures of
his humanitarian trip to Haiti as he appeared on U.S. TV last night.
Travolta
told Late
Show host David Letterman how he and his church of Scientology gathered
more than 7-tonnes of supplies and then flew them to Port-au-Prince in
his Boeing 707.
'I
didn't even know
I had it in me to be honest - I was like a commander running around,'
Travolta said.
'I didn't know I had it
in me':
John Travolta told David Letterman about his humanitarian trip to Haiti
'I
wanted to take him back': John showed a picture of himself with an
orphan he met on the trip
Travolta,
who's
teenage son Jet died after a seizure last year, showed a picture of
himself with a small boy orphaned in the disaster who he took on a tour
around his plane.
'This
little boy
was found roaming into the volunteer minister's group,' he said.
'He was wounded
and he had lost his family, now he's an orphan. He saw the plane come
in and all he wanted to do was get on board and see what the plane was
like.
'He
came on board
and I stuffed his pockets with cookies and bananas and treats.
'He
was 7. I wanted
to take him back, he was a really sweet boy. But he's being well taken
care of in the orphanage right now, as are many people.'
Travolta
said his
was one of two planes organized with the help of the Church of
Scientology to fly relief into the disaster-hit country.
To
the rescue: Travolta, with his wife Kelly Preston, flew supplies into
Haiti on his Boeing 707
'I
sent two planes
down,' he said.
'One
I flew down
and an earlier one that a friend called and said he was going in that
direction and could I find supplies and people to put on it.
'The
first one was
easy, I contacted my church and they had supplies and people to put on
that.
'The
second one was
a little more difficult because my people had to go shopping for goods
and also contact all the hospitals in Florida to donate goods. They all
ended up donating about seven-tonnes of goods.
'The
church
contacted 22 doctors and we put them on the plane along with the
supplies.'
Organised
approach: A Scientologist at the reception of the general hospital in
Port-au-Prince tries to help staff with patients and visitors last month
Once
in Haiti,
Travolta said he stayed with the supplies and guarded them.
He
said: 'I had to
make sure those supplies stayed with the doctors because that was the
operative idea and there was a lot of dropping off goods and
disappearing goods.
'I
stuck around and
made sure they were guarded so in the morning when the doctors woke up
it was like a store and they could go shopping for surgical supplies,
diapers for the orphans and milk, baby formula - whatever they needed
to perform operations or feed the kids.
'I
got the word
today that 90% of the supplies that went with those doctors actually
were used and hundreds of lives were saved.
'But
there's still
a lot to be done, there's a lot of nurses needed and backup. The
important thing for people donating supplies is to make sure they go to
the places they are needed.'
Travolta
is
currently promoting his new film, From Paris with Love.
It
follows Jonathan
Rhys-Meyers' James Reese, a low-ranking intelligence operative working
in the office of the U.S. Ambassador in France.
His character
is partnered with Travolta's Charlie Wax, a high-ranking U.S. agent
who's been sent to Paris to stop a terrorist attack.
