A life dedicated to service

"If you look carefully, you will see a twinkle in his eyes.  It’s the

sort of determined twinkle that seems to have always accompanied him
throughout his forty years of silent and steadfast service to the
poorest of the poor. Dr. Frederick Shaw, a self proclaimed Irishman
who stays true to his love of talking, has used his words and actions
to transform many lives in The Gambia, Swaziland, Pakistan,The
Philippines, Papau New Guinea, and most recently, the bastis, or slums
of Chandigarh, India. Taking an innovative and heart centered approach
to meet basic health needs, Dr. Shaw has created a model borne out of
a deep understanding of economic development, public health,
nutrition, and education, to empower communities to sustain health and wellness.


A group of ServiceSpace friends recently gathered to listen to Dr.
Shaw’s remarkable story that began with his journey as a medical
practitioner in various parts of the world, followed by his decision
to go back to graduate school at U.C. Berkeley to get a better
understanding of public health, and ultimately, to start Developing
Indigenous Resources (DIR), a NGO that focuses on alleviating
suffering and empowering marginalized communities to sustain
themselves.  As Dr. Shaw spoke, it was hard not to be moved 
by the genuineness and simplicity of his resolve to see and 
dedicate his life’s work to address basic needs in the most
marginalized communities of the world.

During the gathering, Dr. Shaw and his gracious and extremely
supportive wife, Roberta, recounted Dr. Shaw’s time in Pakistan
evaluating twenty five years of U.S. financial assistance used to
develop Pakistan’s public health, nutrition and family planning
programs. Dr. Shaw shared that the Pakistani government had identified
a problem of an absence of goods and services that precluded the good
health of many citizens of isolated rural areas, which prompted it to
establish 1,200 primary health care centers.  It was during this time,
in 1987, that Dr. Shaw formed DIR, with the clear purpose of
development, or “bringing forth whatever is within.”

DIR’s specific model is one of community empowerment and
sustainability; after selecting and hiring people as Health Promoters
(from the very slums they were serving), Dr. Shaw and his staff began
to train these specialists to educate other community members to
implement best practices with respect to preparing food, maintaining
proper hygiene, and dealing with wastes -- simple things that were
previously killing many people.  In addition to successfully changing
behavior around basic lifestyle routines, Dr. Shaw also addressed the
high maternal mortality rate by training midwives, and economically
incentivizing them with certificates (that they could use to get
higher wages).  This model caught the attention of former President
Musharraf, who asked Dr. Shaw to nationalize its implementation. While
doing so, Dr. Shaw and his team improved and saved the lives of more
than 300,000 Pakistanis. Reflecting on this experiment, Dr. Shaw
lightly remarks, “In a seven year period, we reduced the maternal
mortality rate by 84% at a cost of $1.15 per person in the program per
year, which is the cheapest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

Eighteen months after this impressive, economical feat, India gave Dr.
Shaw permission to implement his model in Janta Colony, located just
on the outskirts of Chandigarh, Punjab.  Dr. Shaw notes, “If you’re
going to have any impact, it’s going to have to be from within,” as
good governance, efficiency and finances are difficult to come by
externally. Here Health Promoters each work with 200 families,
visiting them regularly and checking that basic nutritional, medical
and housing needs are being met. With a budget of just $90,000 (as Dr.
Shaw does not take a salary), the program runs at a cost of just under
$2 per participant per year, and has positively affected the lives of
nearly 16,000 residents.

While recounting the quantitative details of his model, Dr. Shaw’s
voice took a softer tone as he remembered a particularly touching
moment in his work.  He shared the genuine surprise that he felt when
one day, he was able to have a cup of tea with the Health Promoters in
Janta Colony; one such Health Promoter, a young woman who had been
working with DIR for two years, confided, “Before you started this
program, we were nothing. Now we are something.” Dr. Shaw responded in
an affirmation of their worth -- something that was hard for these
Health Promoters, who, as Untouchables, or Harijans, to accept, as
they had always heard the exact opposite.  This interaction humbled an
ever graceful Dr. Shaw, illuminating the Health Promoters’ internal
shifts of awareness, appreciation, and celebration of the gifts of
their empowered selves. It is with this very real experience of
empowerment that Health Promoters are able to genuinely effect
internal and external shifts of empowerment in community members and
the community itself.

These transformative ripples of empowerment are spreading, and Dr.
Shaw and his team are continuing to work with humility, compassion,
gentleness, and vision to reach all of the residents of Janta Colony.
At the end of his sharing, it was heartwarming to see and feel
ServiceSpace friends so freely and enthusiastically providing
reflections and so many of offerings of support to Dr. Shaw and DIR.
Despite experiencing barriers of financing and size, Dr. Shaw has full
heartedly committed to continue his inspiring service of providing a
model to nourish so many souls so that they may ultimately understand
that they too, "are somebody," and can reach their full potential and
flourish."

This piece on Dr Shaw was written by Megha Sahgal last year, after the ServiceSpace gathering.