Gently Shake Your World

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

It was Gandhi who admonished his generation saying, “In a gentle way you can shake your world.” Gandhi certainly shook his world during his lifetime. While traveling throughout this world I have met my share of passionate persons who have likewise shaken their world in gentle ways.

One of my dearest international friends was Daniel Kalnin. He was born in the mysterious country of Burma. The British had colonized Burma, bordered by China, India, Thailand and a bit of Laos. Burma had become a strategic defense post for the Brits during World War II. But in 1948 Great Britain decided to pull out of Burma and sail home. The vacuum of leadership and stability threw Burma into political, economic and cultural chaos. They had grown to depend on the British rule of law, available health care, and the advantage of international trading. Power struggles, tribal wars and a lot of bloodshed became the rule.

Daniel realized that if he were to see any of his dreams come true he would have to leave Burma. When he was 18 years old he slipped across the Thailand border and became a fugitive. Eventually, some Americans rescued Daniel and brought him to America where he was educated and where he met his Canadian wife, Beverly. Upon graduation the two of them determined to return to Thailand and work with the hill-tribe people who lived on the border of Thailand and northern Burma.

In Thailand Daniel constructed, with the blessing of the King of Thailand, a small housing development. He tested 27 water sources to find an uncontaminated water supply for the village. None could be used. But high in the mountains he discovered a spring of pure water and built a water project of cisterns and pipelines to serve the people. One of the criteria for families to move into his development was to stop cultivating poppies for opium resale, take ownership of some of his land and start growing a cash crop of coffee. Daniel returned briefly to the US and raised money to buy coffee plants. While here he set up distribution outlets to market the new “Hill-Tribe” coffee brand in America. The villagers discovered they could make more money with coffee crops than poppies. Because of the new water system the villagers became dramatically healthier.

I traveled with Daniel on motorbikes over the steep trails of the lower Himalayas along the border of Burma to his new development of Bayasai and the bustling town of Prau. Daniel showed me the large brown church the people had built with a large red cross painted on the front. It was the only place in the insurgency area where the people from five different tribes were living together peacefully.

In the commercial city of Chang Mai, Thailand, Daniel and Beverly had additionally built the “Home of Blessing.” When I first visited the Kalnin’s home in Chang Mai there were 47 “throwaway girls” ages ten through twelve who had been taken from slavery and prostitution and were being housed, loved and educated in that home. But for 30 years Daniel had been estranged from his family and beloved homeland of Burma. Eventually, Project C.U.R.E. was privileged to join Daniel in returning to Burma and seeing his dreams come true in establishing the highly effective “Barefoot Doctors” organization that has saved literally thousands of the lives of the hill-tribe villagers and citizens of Thailand and Burma.

My dear friend Daniel recently died and I am still grieving the loss. This article is written to the honor of Daniel, his family and his never ending life’s work. Today, I salute him as a true champion because in a gentle way Daniel shook his world!

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

When Are You Strongest?

by Dr. James W. Jackson
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

I began traveling to Chiang Mai, Thailand, with my Burmese friend, Daniel Kalnin, in 1996. Earlier, he had flown to Denver to ask me to help him with his "Barefoot Doctors" program. "We are training village people from the closed country of Burma," he explained. "We instruct them in basic health care procedures in Chiang Mai, then, send them back into their hill-tribe villages. They return as the only 'doctors' in their areas. I don't have any medical goods to send back with them, and I also need help in training them."
 
Both the man and his story had intrigued me. He was a quiet, dignified Asian in his 50s. His request was straight forward, his urgency and sincerity compelling. I knew that most of the universities and institutions had been closed in Burma, now called "Myanmar," because the paranoid new government had feared the possibility of insurgency on the campuses.

The training process stretched over a 3-year period. Those chosen by their villages to be trained walked out of Burma, usually illegally, and crossed into Thailand and stayed for one month in each of the three years. It would sometimes take three weeks for them to make the journey on foot. The term, "Barefoot Doctors" described well the picture of the simple Burmese villagers walking barefoot among their people caring for the sick and injured.

The first time I visited one of the "Barefoot Doctors" training sessions in Chiang Mai, there were 21 candidates enrolled. Following the training sessions and dinner, I would encourage them to tell me about themselves and their experiences. They all told me how inadequate they felt as they traveled back home knowing they were the only ones in their villages with any medical or emergency information. Everyone looked to them for help. But they also shared that when they received a call for help there was a certain power and confidence that came over them as they faced the emergency.

One woman told me how God had helped her understand how to fabricate an IV- starting device and get some sterile water into a dying boy's body while the entire village looked on. The boy lived, to the astonishment of everyone.

Another lady cried as she told me that the previous year she had returned to her village after having received two of the three annual training courses. "I was called in the night to the home of my dearest childhood friend. She was very sick. I had enough training to determine that she was having a severe appendicitis attack. But I had never done any procedure such as that. My friend begged me to help her. I knew if I did not do something she would surely die.

"Then the lady explained, "I went into another dark room. I prayed to God and raised my hands up toward Him and told Him that I didn't know what to do with my hands and mind, but I didn't want my dear friend to die. I was the only person who knew anything about medical things. We put my friend on her kitchen table and I began the procedure. I was able to perform the procedure and my friend is alive today. It was a miracle!" 

As that precious hill-tribe Burmese lady shared her story with me that night, I remembered a quote from Pope Paul VI, "Nothing makes one feel so strong as a call for help." She had heard the call for help. She was emboldened enough to ask God to help her in an impossible situation, and God made her strong in her weakness so that she could successfully respond to the incomprehensible challenge.

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

Wealth Rooms

by Dr. James W. Jackson
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

Snuggled up against the western borders of old Burma in the rugged front range of the majestic Himalayas, just south of the Bhutan and only a few miles from China, lay three orphaned sub-states of India. Because they are nearly cut off from the rest of India by Bangladesh, the territories of Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland are characterized by dangerous insurgency and wild independence. I traveled there to assess some needy hospitals and clinics.

While in the city of Kohima, Nagaland, my host took me to a village near his birthplace. Before the missionaries had come to the area, the residents had been ferocious headhunters. The sturdy ceremonial wooden gates of the village had been carved and painted with scenes of warriors carrying the heads of their tribal enemies as trophies. No longer do they hunt down their neighbors. Now, heads of bear, deer, straight-horned bucks, monkeys, and wild boars are displayed on the roofs, porches, and outside walls of the homes.

Just inside the door of each village dwelling was a special room that immediately revealed the earthly wealth of the owner.  Woven reed baskets nearly six feet tall were filled with rice, maize and other grains.  Ears of corn were draped over the rafters and cuts of meat were hung from racks to dry.

My doctor friend interpreted as I talked with an old village resident who told me that the entry areas were called ‘Wealth Rooms.’  “It is good to be considered wealthy because it lets everyone know that you are not lazy, but very productive. You care about life.  But the ‘Wealth Rooms’ serve an even greater purpose,” he told me. 

“Later in life, when a man becomes rich and his room is very full, he invites all the other village people to his house for a ‘Giveaway Party.’  All his friends and neighbors come and honor him because he had worked very hard, had been a good hunter and had lived wisely.”  At the end of the party the host goes to his ‘Wealth Room,’ takes the contents and divides them up among the other inhabitants of the village.  In return, the villagers confer on the man and his family great honor and influence and guarantee him a legacy of greatness and respect and take care of him as long as he lives.”

I had never before heard of “Wealth Rooms” and “Giveaway Parties.”  What a great way to move from “Success to Significance!” But I quickly agreed that the concept had certainly been established in heavenly wisdom.  It had been both refreshing and confirming to realize that, way back in the ancient Mongol history, some folks had it figured correctly: “Your greatness is always determined by what you give away from your ‘Wealth Room’ while you are still alive.”

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: mailto:press@winstoncrown.com

images: Drs. James W. and AnnaMarie Jackson