Tuesday, May 26, 2015

JOURNAL HIGHLIGHTS: Roads I Have Traveled Excerpt # 1 from October 1997

Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist


NEPAL: Project C.U.R.E. received previous requests to become involved in Nepal, but the present circumstances and timing seem just right for this new venture.

I have always been intrigued by the country of Nepal, hearing the reports of climbers who use the country as base camp for their climbing assault of Mount Everest. The whole country of Nepal is predominantly mountainous and is about the same size as the state of Wisconsin. The Himalayas, in the northern third of the oblong country, contain some of the world’s highest mountain peaks. Six of those peaks are higher than twenty-six thousand feet, including Mount Everest at nearly thirty thousand feet.

I have been used to hearing the accolades and applause for the fourteen-thousand-foot peaks of the Colorado Rockies, so I am curious to view mountains nearly twice as high as those in my backyard in Evergreen. Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, is located in the middle hills, which are more comparable to our Rockies and are historically known for the exploits of the famous Gurkha foot soldiers. To the south lies the Terai, where you can find everything from cultivated fields to the subtropical jungles at the northern rim of the Gangetic Plain. Obviously, with that much diversity in elevation, there are radical changes of weather within short distances of travel. The cool summers and frigid winters of the north become the subtropical climates of the southern regions. To add spice to the weather variations, the effects of monsoons on the middle and southern regions between June and September are thrown into the mix, compliments of the nearby Indian Ocean.




Nepal is situated on the border between China to the north and India to the south. Historically, it has always been an important buffer state and a negotiation referee between the two giant countries. In fact, the size of Nepal has varied greatly over the years due to border squabbles. In 1990, King Birendra canceled the ban on political parties, which led to an interesting experiment in Nepal’s endeavor to embrace democracy. The struggle has not been entirely successful. Today there are now three major parties, and no one party has been able to achieve a majority hold on the parliament, which consists of the upper chamber known as the National Council and the lower chamber called the House of Representatives. So far, each government election has necessitated a coalition government. The system lies somewhere on a governmental organizational chart between a multiparty democracy and a constitutional monarchy, because although the prime minister runs the governing chambers, the king is still chief of state.

In Nepal, agriculture still employs 93 percent of the labor force. Most of the country is, therefore, a no-cash-income economy. More than four million Nepalese work in India and send their pay home to their families in Nepal. So Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world, with an annual gross national product per capita of only US$165.

Health conditions have somewhat improved in the recent past. Even so, a very high infant-mortality rate of ninety deaths per one thousand babies born still exists, and the life expectancy is right at fifty years. There is no organized plan to purify the water supply, so diseases such as meningitis, typhoid, and hepatitis are widespread. I have been warned to never drink any water except bottled water and to be sure to keep my mouth and eyes shut whenever taking a shower. Nepal has needed Project C.U.R.E. for a long time.

Nepal also needs some help with their educational system. Only 13 percent of the females are literate due to farm work and prearranged marriages, and the total literacy rate throughout the country is between 25 and 26 percent. About 88 percent of the population adheres to the Hindu religion, and Nepal, I think, is the only nation in the world that has declared itself a Hindu state. There are very few Christians in Nepal, and proselytizing is officially and strictly forbidden.

Nepal’s population is somewhere around twenty-five million, about the same size as North Korea. It is growing at quite a rapid rate now, which has a lot of the world health groups flocking in to shame them into a position of imposing a lesser burden on dear Mother Earth.

Narayan Shrestha suggested I accompany one of his volunteer medical teams heading into Nepal. They are to leave Denver on October 8, and they are all staying for at least one month, with some volunteers staying as long as six months or more. I told him I have plans to be in Romania by October 16, but there is a possibility I could squeeze in the Nepal trip on the front end of the schedule and then go from Nepal directly to Bucharest, Romania. Agreements were made and plans confirmed.

Next Week: Nepalese Protocol and Customs 

© Dr. James W. Jackson   
Permissions granted by Winston-Crown Publishing House
  

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson. 

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

JOURNAL HIGHLIGHTS: The Roads I Have Traveled ... Excerpt # 2 from November 1996

Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist


Some have said, “You will grow too fast, and you will never have enough money to keep Project C.U.R.E. afloat.” 

I’ve thought about that a lot … even on this trip while sitting in the hotel room cooling my jet engines.It appears that we will need money for phones, computers, insurance, trucks, fuel, repairs on donated equipment, travel, training, utilities, office supplies, printing, postage, forklifts, pallet jacks, program software, maintenance and upkeep, container shipments … for … for … for … And that’s for each satellite location as well as the home office in Denver. 

 It would only take half a brain and one eye to conclude that this is an impossible thing to accomplish. I can’t do it; I know that. I don’t suffer under any false illusions … but I do have a very wealthy personal friend, and I have had the occasion to keep him fully apprised of the entire project. In fact, most of the successful ideas we are now implementing came at his suggestion. When I tell him what’s happening and the fact that we will have shipped, just this year alone, over fifty containers to forty different countries, and the worth of those loads over the past two years equals nearly $20,000,000 (that’s twenty million for those who keep track of zeros), and it was done with almost no money, I get this picture in my mind that I will see a twinkle in his eye and a slight grin at the left corner of his mouth.

And he will quietly whisper under his breath, “Oh yes, and don’t forget the healing that took place in the bodies of many of my children, and the hope that was ignited in the hearts of thousands of my hurting pilgrims who had just about stumbled over to the side of the road to sit down and quit the trek because it seemed there was just no use in going on to the next oasis.”

This wealthy friend of mine just may be showing me another lesson about money. I had to learn once before a very traumatic lesson in his school of eternal economics. He kindly tutored me in the fact that I was, indeed, addicted to the money. It was kind of painful, as I recall, going through the process of breaking that addiction. And, little by little, his curriculum has brought me to the conclusion that he owns and is presently actively involved in managing absolutely everything that exists in this present time-space continuum called life and earth and wealth and stuff.

So I guess I have come to the unorthodox conclusion that I am not going to harp on him about money to meet the needs of Project C.U.R.E. That would tarnish the picture of his true creativity and perhaps even insult him—and I have learned that proper conduct definitely does not include insulting the wealthy.

However, with great importunity, I have decided to bug the daylights out of him to appropriate adequate resources to carry out what he has already started in us as a good work. For that request I feel perfectly at ease bursting into his secret place and blurting out, “Abba, Daddy, please help me. We’re trying to be your feet and legs and hands and arms to take healing to those who need healing and hope to those who need hope. If I am not the one to be leading this charge, please get to the replacement plan as quickly as possible and get me out of the way so that another who is more perceptive in such things as obedience can carry on the work to completion.”

Wouldn’t it just be something if we finally broke past that barrier of thinking I can’t do it because I don’t have the money? He would absolutely surprise us all and get the job done without money—or an even greater surprise—once we let loose of our old patterns and expectations of how he “ought” to answer and become comfortable with the idea that he has the freedom of creativity of doing it just any jolly old way he wants to. And then he would come back around after our addiction is healed and really, really surprise us by doing it with money as his select resource.

At any rate, I am going to quit spending my energy trying to coach my wealthy friend. I just want to stay focused on getting and keeping in the game as a player, not a coach. And I believe that one day soon that twinkle in his eye and the grin at the left corner of his mouth will break into a full-fledged grin and maybe even into a robust laugh of exuberance as he says, “Well, you finally did it. Well done, well done, my friend.”

Next Week: Early days in Nepal

© Dr. James W. Jackson
Permissions granted by Winston-Crown Publishing House
www.jameswjackson.com


Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson. 

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

JOURNAL HIGHLIGHTS: The Roads I Have Traveled . . . Excerpt 1 from November 1996

Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist


(In the early days of Project C.U.R.E. we had to develop our business strategy while we were in motion. We did not have someone else’s book to follow. Would we grow past Denver? Where would we get the supplies and pieces of medical equipment? What about warehouses, forklifts, volunteers? We had jumped off the top of the mountain and now we had to assemble the airplane in mid air before we hit the ground! Here is an example of one of those lonely thinking sessions.)

ETHIOPIA, Nov.20, ’96: For most of the remaining time in London, I was able to catch up on my reading and some writing. I had time to think about just what Project C.U.R.E. might look like five years and ten years down the road. It is starting to take shape as an absolute twentieth-century miracle.

We had all grunted and groaned together to push the big rock up the hill. Now that we are picking up a little momentum, we need to be even more diligent and even more sensitive to God’s direction. It seems like it would be wise and prudent to start planning on perhaps twenty to twenty-five Project C.U.R.E. warehouses in cities around the US, and possibly Canada. It just seems to make logical sense not to try to ship everything to Denver to warehouse and containerize. To truck medical goods from hospitals in Houston, Texas, to Denver; put those goods into a container; and then ship the container all the way back to Houston to put on a boat just doesn’t add up. It seems wiser to collect and containerize the materials right at or as close to the point of donation as possible. That would do several things to expedite matters:
1. Over time we would save millions of overland shipping miles.
2. It would keep Denver’s facilities from having to become too big.
3. By spreading out the operation, we could utilize smaller warehouse facilities and also tap into additional volunteer pools as the project spreads around the country.
4. Local medical-supply donors would be able to link local faces with Project C.U.R.E., as they keep in touch with volunteers who come around to visit them, rather than just seeing some disinterested overland truck driver pull up and then drive away.
5. It would give perhaps thousands more people the opportunity to get involved in a hands‑on missions mobilization project.
6. Local people developing relationships with hundreds of doctors, hospitals, and clinics would be able to ferret out millions more dollars’ worth of medical supplies than would one Denver‑based operation.
Those are just some of the factors on the positive side of the ledger. Of course, on the negative side …
1. We would create an absolute logistical and managerial nightmare.
2. We would immediately have to have people from our office ready to go to the new locations and train the warehouse manager, those who pick up the donated materials, those who pack the container, and so on. We would have to send our people out to make the initial introductions to suppliers like Baxter International, Owens and Minor, McGaw, Bristol, Johnson and Johnson, General Electric, Picker, etc., at all those new locations.
3. We would have to have available trucks with lift gates, at least one pallet jack per warehouse, perhaps one forklift per warehouse, wooden pallets, donated warehouse space with loading docks that would match the height of the cargo containers, etc.

I believe the scheduling of container shipping and the decision for the final destination of the loads will always be handled through the Denver office, as well as all the receipting of donations and the tracking of the materials. That will give the operation stability and continuity and will always allow us to maintain our integrity with our donors, our recipients, and the Internal Revenue Service. The on‑location warehouse managers could fax or e‑mail the inventory of items picked up on a given day and the donor’s name. Denver could put that information into the computer and issue written receipt letters the next day. That would let us know exactly what we have in inventory in each location at any given time. From that inventory we could determine what and when to ship to a recipient country.

 Next Week: Who will pay for all this?

© Dr. James W. Jackson   
Permissions granted by Winston-Crown Publishing House
  
www.jameswjackson.com  

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson. 

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

JOURNAL HIGHLIGHTS: The Roads I have Traveled. . . Excerpt # 4 September 1998

Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist


DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (cont.): The clinics I visited this afternoon were embarrassingly short of any medications or supplies. When I inquired about the lack of pharmaceuticals and basic supplies, the attendant at the Barranca clinic wrinkled his forehead and sort of looked at me in a puzzled way.

“We are pleased we have these supplies. We just received them yesterday. Before these supplies, we had not received any others since last April” was his reply. He then proudly showed me a small wooden box with an ill-fitting wooden lid. Inside the box was inoculation medicine for children. The medicine, which must be refrigerated, was packed in ice cubes that were rapidly melting in the hot climate. None of the clinics I visited had any kind of refrigeration.

This evening I was invited to join the executive committee of the Rotary Club for dinner. There I had the opportunity to tell them about the work of Project C.U.R.E. around the world. The genuine kindness of the people and the dedication to making their city of one hundred thousand people a better place to live really encouraged me. They were almost overwhelmed that Project C.U.R.E. would come to their city with the possibility of helping them. No other organization has ever come to help them.

At dinner Dr. Miguel de Pena told me that their main hospital has been without an X-ray machine for months. Some people in Miami said they would try to help them get another X-ray machine, but Dr. Miguel never heard from them again. The committee told me that Project C.U.R.E. coming to La Vega is an answer to their prayers. We talked about the fact that I had not even counted on getting La Vega into my schedule until sometime in 1999. But rearranging the schedule for the Vietnam trip left just these few days available, and I felt strongly that I should contact Cesar Abreu regarding my trip to the Dominican Republic. It almost seemed, they said, like it was divine providence. 


They have been totally without access to even one X-ray unit for almost six months. The old, broken General Electric unit had been dismantled and was lying on a piece of concrete slab between two buildings. I asked what they do for X-rays for diagnosis. They simply replied, “We do without.”




I got into quite a discussion with all of the medical people in the room regarding the philosophy that the government could promise and deliver adequate health care to the total population without charging each patient some amount for the service. When I brought up the subject, I knew immediately that I had hit a raw nerve.

“Everywhere I go today around the world,” I observed, “those with health-care responsibilities for the general public are coming to the conclusion that their government cannot continue to expect to cover all costs of health care. What makes you think the Dominican Republic can cover everything for everybody? Obviously you are not doing it now, are you?”

Their answer to me was typical. “The politicians here depend on the vote of the people to gain office. Any candidate running for an elected office who would even mention the possibility of not giving free health care to the constituents would be a fool. He would never get elected.”

We had to move on with the assessment study, but my final thought on the subject was to challenge them that no one is receiving health care for free now in the Dominican Republic, and in my opinion, it will only get worse in quality, not better, until they figure out a way for the individual patients receiving the service to directly contribute something toward the services they receive.

The fact that the main hospital is trying to function without an X-ray machine, without monitors of any kind, with only one small autoclave, and with no lab analysis equipment certainly underscores the conclusion that the hospital simply needs everything.

Next Week: Designing a Plan

© Dr. James W. Jackson   
Permissions granted by Winston-Crown Publishing House
  


Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson. 

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com