Hw 22

Mountains beyond mountains, by: Tracy Kidder, Random house, 2004

Precis: Paul Farmer is a young doctor working in Haiti. He is "a doctor for the poor". Meaning that he has devoted his life to working with the poor particularly in Haiti and providing them with medical services they normally would not receive. He lives a very chaotic life and has devoted his entire life and given up a "normal life" to serve the poor.

Quotes: "In Haiti. I knew per capita incomes came to a little more than one American dollar a day, less than that in the central plateau."(Kidder,20)

This shows the immense poverty of the majority of the Haitian population.

"The world is full of miserable places. One way of living comfortably is not to think about them or, when you do, to send money." (Kidder,4)

This is the classic way of not feeling guilty about the horrific issues going on in the world. Of course it is good to give money to charities and such but that does not fix the problem.

I can't sleep. There's always somebody not getting treatment.(quote from Farmer) (Kidder, 24)

I think this is a great example of Farmer's mindset. It shows his devotion to helping those who are in dire need of help and have no other options.

Thoughts

Paul Farmer is a very admirable man. He is doing something extremely uncommon and courageous. Having said that, the book is showing me a lot about Farmer's life and what he does however I have yet to grasp the morale or direction the book is taking. Although Farmer is doing a lot of good what are his solution to the world medical issues. After all he is only working in small areas.