Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist
In Colombia, South America, 1997 was a year of lawlessness and murder. The drug cartels ran unchecked not only in the cities but in the rural mountain districts. No one was safe and the frightened victims from the countryside would try to escape the violence and guerrilla warfare by rushing to the cities to find food, protection and perhaps work. “Invasion Cities” were built overnight out of junk and trash on land where folks had no business to squat. Single mothers with a half dozen homeless kids would hunker down under cardboard or a piece of sheet metal to keep out of the rain or scorching sun. Once there, they would be slapped with the cruel reality that there was no food, no protection and no work. There were 32 such invasion cities in Monteria.
“Barrios” were a little different. The city would give the poor dwellers permission to build on the land or would sell the land outright to the people for a small price. The shelters in the barrios were constructed out of gathered stones or concrete blocks. But the characteristic level of abject poverty was the same ... no job ... no money ... no hope!
I went into several of the squalid huts. Because of the recent heavy rains, the floors of the invasion city units were soggy mud holes. The sewage ran down the center of the make shift roads or behind the huts. As little babies crawled along the floors and through the mud, I watched with amazement and wondered why far more of them did not die from lung congestion and parasites. My feeble coping skills acquired over the years totally failed me when a pair of haunting, hungry eyes locked in on mine with a panicked plea: “please help me ... I have no hope to get out of here!”
Then, like a burst of warm Colorado sunshine, I experienced a bit of the Divine. In front of me was a small, whitewashed building that was being used as a school. Alita was only 15 years old; she was the teacher. Over the years she had walked out of the barrio every day to attend a small Catholic school in the city. “I knew I wanted to do something for these children in the invasion cities and barrios,” she told me.
Alita had gone through the 10th grade but had given up her opportunity to enter the 11th grade in order to start teaching the children of her neighborhood how to read and write. She had never received any teacher training, but simply taught as she had been taught.
She could only teach the children a half day because she had 90 children as students ... 45 in the morning and 45 in the afternoon. The week before she had another 15 children come, but she simply could not handle them and had to turn them away. “I was able to bring some bananas today to my school to feed some of my students who have been going hungry. I did not eat today, but that is just fine,” she told me. I looked around her little whitewashed "school" building with pictures and artwork fixed to the outside walls, and I stopped and thanked God for Alita. The work of the world does not wait to be done by the perfect or pretty people. God’s work is accomplished by people of great compassion who will pour out their own lives so that others are “better off!”
“Barrios” were a little different. The city would give the poor dwellers permission to build on the land or would sell the land outright to the people for a small price. The shelters in the barrios were constructed out of gathered stones or concrete blocks. But the characteristic level of abject poverty was the same ... no job ... no money ... no hope!
I went into several of the squalid huts. Because of the recent heavy rains, the floors of the invasion city units were soggy mud holes. The sewage ran down the center of the make shift roads or behind the huts. As little babies crawled along the floors and through the mud, I watched with amazement and wondered why far more of them did not die from lung congestion and parasites. My feeble coping skills acquired over the years totally failed me when a pair of haunting, hungry eyes locked in on mine with a panicked plea: “please help me ... I have no hope to get out of here!”
Then, like a burst of warm Colorado sunshine, I experienced a bit of the Divine. In front of me was a small, whitewashed building that was being used as a school. Alita was only 15 years old; she was the teacher. Over the years she had walked out of the barrio every day to attend a small Catholic school in the city. “I knew I wanted to do something for these children in the invasion cities and barrios,” she told me. Alita had gone through the 10th grade but had given up her opportunity to enter the 11th grade in order to start teaching the children of her neighborhood how to read and write. She had never received any teacher training, but simply taught as she had been taught.
She could only teach the children a half day because she had 90 children as students ... 45 in the morning and 45 in the afternoon. The week before she had another 15 children come, but she simply could not handle them and had to turn them away. “I was able to bring some bananas today to my school to feed some of my students who have been going hungry. I did not eat today, but that is just fine,” she told me. I looked around her little whitewashed "school" building with pictures and artwork fixed to the outside walls, and I stopped and thanked God for Alita. The work of the world does not wait to be done by the perfect or pretty people. God’s work is accomplished by people of great compassion who will pour out their own lives so that others are “better off!”
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
images: Drs. James W. and AnnaMarie Jackson
images: Drs. James W. and AnnaMarie Jackson
No comments:
Post a Comment