Bart Weetjens

In a black Japanese robe, with a friendly rat nestled upon his shoulder, Bart Weetjens smiles for the camera. The unexpected seems to be one of his trademarks, and his work in the world evokes a similar sense of surprise, integrating two roles not often put together: social entrepreneurship and the contemplative practice of Zen Buddhism. What’s more, his background in product design and engineering led to the innovative idea of training rodents to make the world safer and healthier for all.

A native of Antwerp, Belgium, Bart grew up in a family where affection was scarce, but abuse was not. A hamster he’d received as a birthday gift became one of his primary affections, soon followed by more small, furry pets. His primary fascination was with rats, which he’d not only begun to read about in biology textbooks and scientific journals but, with his young entrepreneurial spirit, had begun breeding and selling. Upon attending military boarding school, then college, Bart had to leave them all behind — until his more matured entrepreneurial spirit would bring them back later. But first, a long healing journey.  

This journey began while he was a student at the University of Antwerp. Without any foundation of what healthy boundaries meant, and also mentally escaping his difficult childhood, Bart began experimenting with different recreational drugs. On a trip to Spain with friends, worried they’d get caught by border police with LSD, Bart swallowed 10 doses of the psychedelic substances. This caused a prolonged, near-fatal, dissociative experience that landed him in six weeks of isolation in a psychiatric ward, followed by years of heavy-duty antipsychotic medications. During his decade-long healing process, he serendipitously found Zazen meditation from a flyer in a grocery store. He called the number, and the next morning, was sitting in a dojo with a Zen meditation teacher (Zazen means “seated meditation,” and is a method in Zen Buddhism). “It felt like coming home.”  

As he learned to face the regressive fears in his subconscious, he came to examine his studies with creativity, too. Upon returning to the university, and through a combination of travels to Africa, documentary films, and encouragement from a product design advisor, Bart’s social mission began taking shape. Stoking his childhood love for rats, he began training giant African rats (dubbed “HeroRATS”) as keen detectors of landmines in the most vulnerable of communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Out of that grew his organization, Apopo, a global humanitarian operation leading the way for social enterprises around the world, and recognized and awarded by organizations like Ashoka, Skoll Foundation, and the World Economic Forum.

All of his outer work is guided by the inner practice of Zazen. For him, the two are inseparable. Even as his organization has helped millions of people live free of fear from landmine contamination (with no rat casualties to date) — and has also trained rats to detect tuberculosis in impoverished regions — Bart’s attention focuses on personal resilience, depth of presence, and the ethos of “do no harm.” This, in the oft adrenaline-rushing, self-sacrificing drive in the world of social innovators, often at the cost of their own mental and physical health. He asks bold  questions to challenge the prevailing ideas of problem-solving. Is it possible that we are unconsciously bringing our shadows into the work of goodwill that we wish so dearly and passionately for the world? Is it possible that our traumas are quietly seeping into our virtuous work, and thereby bringing in the very values we wish to get rid of? What might be the anchors for pioneering new and conscientious probe-solving processes, contexts, and organizational systems that encourage social change leaders to engage with themselves and the external contexts around them?

In 2015, when one of his major work partners in Mozambique officially announced itself free from landmines, Bart stepped away from his executive role at Apopo to coach other social entrepreneurs through the practice of Zazen. He also became involved in The Wellbeing Project, which researches and promotes a culture of inner well-being for all changemakers. And most recently, Bart co-founded an initiative called Innerpreneurs, creating courageous spaces for entrepreneurs to virtuously fulfill their life purpose.

Join this week’s Awakin Call with a teacher, animal lover, and innovator who bridges inner personal development and social problem-solving — all with a good dose of the unexpected.