From June 27th to July 4th 2009, NIGH’s International Co-Director and widely-recognized Florence Nightingale biographer, Barbara Dossey, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, FAAN, attended the 24th Quadrennial International Council of Nurses Congress 2009 in Durban, South Africa.
Before the ICN Congress, Barbara visited the Phoenix Settlement, 26 kilometers from Durban, where Mohandas K. Gandhi lived before returning to South Africa in 1915.
While in South Africa, Gandhi notably organized and volunteered as a stretcher bearing ‘nurse’ for the Indian Ambulance Corps during the South African Boer War, 1899 to 1900.
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| Gandhi with the stretcher-bearers of the Indian Ambulance Corps during the Boer War, South-Africa. Date: 1899-1900. Author unknown. Standing: H. Kitchen, L. Panday, R. Panday, J. Royeppen, R.K. Khan, L. Gabriel, M.K. Kotharee, E. Peters, D. Vinden, V. Madanjit. Middle Row: W. Jonathan, V. Lawrence, M.H. Nazar, Dr. L.P. Booth, M.K. Gandhi, P.K. Naidoo, M. Royeppen. Front Row: S. Shadrach, "Professor" Dhundee, S.D. Moddley, A. David, A.A. Gandhi. |
It is also here that Gandhi worked out his philosophy of Satyagraha, in pursuit of truth and non-violence, and in 1903 started his newspaper The Indian Opinion. Related to this — as detailed on pages 372-374 and 414-416 of Dr. Dossey’s Florence Nightingale: Mystic, Visionary, Healer Commemorative Edition (F.A. Davis, 2010) — Gandhi greatly admired Florence Nightingale and strongly published his deep respect for her in the Indian Opinion, in 1915.
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Original building of the Gandhi’s International Printing Press where Indian Opinion was published. |
On July 4, 2009 — in anticipation of the 2010 International Year of the Nurse [http://www.2010IYNurse.net] — and in recognition of the work and service of global nurses and nursing during Florence Nightingale’s (1820- 1910) Centennial Year, Barbara made an historic presentation to one of Gandhi’s grand daughters — Mrs. Ela Gandhi — Chancellor, Durban University of Technology.
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| Left to right. Barbara Dossey, Thembeka Gwagwa, General Secretary, Democratic Nursing Organization of South Africa, Mrs. Ela Gandhi, and Ngangi Philemon Ngomu, Executive Secretary, Southern African Network of Nurses and Midwives. |
This presentation (click here) included an article (typed copy), written and published by Gandhi on the life and work of Florence Nightingale in 1915, that had been unknown to her. Ms. Gandhi was also presented with a letter commemorating this opportunity. This article and letter were presented on behalf of the following organizations:
Democratic Nursing Organization of South Africa, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa
http://www.denosa.org.za
Sigma Theta Tau, International Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
http://www.nursingsociety.org/default.aspx
Nightingale Initiative for Global Health, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada & Arlington, Virginia, USA
http://www.nightingaledeclaration.net
and
Watson Caring Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado, USA
http://www.watsoncaringscience.org
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