Building a State of the Art Hospital in Botswana
Building a State of the Art Hospital in Botswana
Two Extreme Givers that are WorldLegacy North Carolina Leadership Graduates: Jane Arnold, CNM and Julie Sweedler. They left cushy UNC to create a state-of-the-art hospital in a country where there is nothing like it. Jane is a Nurse Midwife and Julie is a health educator.
Jane Arnold went through WorldLegacy’s Basic, Advanced and NC90 Leadership Program. Her leadership team did an Extreme Makeover project at the Heritage of Raleigh, Raleigh, NC for elderly citizens.Jane Arnold was a member of the LP PHD program PhD8 and was a coach for WorldLegacy. Her PHD transformational experiential workshop was on midwifery.
Julie Sweedler also went through WorldLegacy’s Basic, Advanced and NC94 Leadership Program. Her team’s project was also for the elderly. Her team had an extreme makeover of an outdoor area at the Durham Center for Senior Life.
Now they are off to do an amazing Extreme Giving and Extreme Makeover in Botswana.
Julie Said: “We attended and Orientation with all the medical and administrative staff who are currently hired and here – about 1.40 people. The docs alone are represented by 20 different countries. We’re quite the little UN – all here to start what everyone agrees is a very ambitious, state-of-the-art hospital in a country and region that has seen nothing like what we’re creating. I’m very inspired by what we are attempting to do: provide an extremely advanced and exceptional set of medical services that don’t exist in the country and do it in the highest-tech environment possible. Some of the high-tech initiatives are: paperless record keeping, virtual consulting with an international medical advisory board, and being a test site for an electronic bedside quality assurance monitoring system.”
It is early Christmas morning in Botswana. The sky is blue and bright and the sun is letting me know its presence. I am remembering you.
‘May those from under our feet breathe the warmth of community unto us so that the peace we seek mounts our bodies and sits on the chairs of our hearts sprinkling love and joy around us all’.
Prayer of the African Medicine Man
Kounbaterzie Dabire Guinian
On the day of solstice I became licensed as a midwife able to practice in Botswana. On Christmas Eve we closed the hospital until December 29 as all the Batswana are in their local and far villages celebrating and being in community with their families. Tinsel, lights, cards, gifts, and decorations are foreign here. We brought bread and homemade cookies and juice to the maternity nursing staff before they left the hospital to travel to their villages. We arrived early on Labor and Delivery and set everything out in our conference room. Everyone gathered around the table standing and in silence. In my American way I said, “Come on, come on, let’s eat!” One nurse stepped forward showing grace and patience and said, “We usually sing and pray before we eat.” With that everyone began to sing in harmony in Setswana. This was followed by Christmas carols. Having come to my senses, I pleaded for one more song in Setswana. The harmony began with everyone moving around the table, hips gently swaying and hands clapping with the Medical Officers and physicians joining us in song and dance. I had found another home and my heart kept singing throughout the day.
Bokamoso Private Hospital is to open 1/11/10. Most of us have never opened a new hospital before. I have come to learn what it means to step boldly in the direction of your dreams. With the seemingly impossible in front of us, inspiration, direction, courage, forgiveness and resolution are always there. These seem the manifestation of ancient wisdom. We have a building, some equipment, some staff and now begins the long journey of making a house a home in Africa that can be sustained by the Batswana. This must happen within the next five years when most of the expatriate staff will leave. Establishment, innovation, and technology are meaningless without the heart and wisdom of knowing and kindness. I have been reading Thomas Merton who makes this so clear.
Avoid three kinds of Master:
Those who esteem only themselves,
For their self-esteem is blindness;
Those who esteem only innovations,
For their opinions are aimless without meaning;
Those who esteem only what is established,
Their minds are little cells of ice.
(“Readings from Ibn Abbad”)
Much love and may the New Year bring Peace and Peace in our time,
Jane
Bokamoso Private Hospital