Businessman Don Stephens spent weeks practicing for his short audience with Mother Theresa. But it turned out that she had some compelling questions for him. She asked:
The pain in Don Stephens’ life was obvious—the daily challenges faced by his severely autistic son, John Paul. But that pain served a purpose because it awakened Don to larger health care issues. He found himself thinking, Surely, there must be a way to reach people around the world who don’t have access to quality care.
Don was long on passion but short on facts. In retrospect, he laughs at his naiveté, confessing, “I didn’t know what I didn’t know.” But he was determined to learn. His curiosity led him into months of research and consultation, where he discovered a common thread: 95 of the world’s largest cities were port cities. So, what was the most efficient way to deploy mobile health care across the globe? Floating hospitals known as Mercy Ships.
Forty years later, the volunteer Mercy Ships staff has performed over 95,000 procedures for conditions like a cleft palate, cataract removal, bowed legs, burns and obstetric care as well as almost 450,000 dental procedures. But urgent care is only part of the mission.
Communities need health specialists and infrastructure after the Mercy Ships leave. That’s why they’ve trained over 40,000 people in fields like anesthesiology, midwifery and surgery. They’ve also completed over 1,000 projects such as building wells, sewage systems and streets.
The staff at Mercy Ships knows that true healing takes more than medicine. So, they address emotional scars and confront social stigma experienced by patients with disfiguring conditions. Rehabilitator Nick Veltjens commented, “Every single patient that comes to me comes away with not only physical healing, but also emotional and spiritual healing as well.”
In the March series, Passion is About…, we’re talking about how inspiring people use soft skills in their passion projects. What you can take away from Don Stephens’ experience is heartfelt emotions are only part of the story—you also need tactics and expertise, and that takes knowledge.
When you jump headlong into continuous learning, you’re acting like a CEO with a plan—a Soul Boss. You’re using the soft skill of making insightful choices by admitting, “There’s a gap between where I am now and where I’d like to go, but that’s ok—I’ll figure it out.”
Here are three ways to support your passion project with learning:
Build your passion project on detail and depth. Get educated and get going!