โ Scribed by Ben Constance
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Tracy Kidder begins the story in Haiti with the introduction of Paul Farmer, at the time a witty medical student from Harvard dedicated to serving the poor. Years later we travel to Farmer's new compound in the impoverished regions of Haiti, Zanmi Lasante, the first project of his grassroots organization, Partners in Health (PIH). We then follow PIH as it expands to Peru and Russia.
Mountains Beyond Mountains has several themes, primarily that the poor deserve equal opportunities for basic health and sanitation. Another is that the wealthy people of this world have turned their backs on the poor and needy, thus the perpetuation of disease and poverty. Throughout the book, Kidder impresses on his reader that Farmer's work is not only amazing in scale and success, but also an inevitable "long defeat," as there will always be more poor people living in substandard conditions.
This book is inspirational and subtly instructive, if not offensive. Although narrated through the experiences of Tracy Kidder, Dr Farmer's work is a call to action for those with similar ideas and values. The far reaches of Haiti are an austere environment with few resources, unpredictable electricity, and poor water quality. Those interested in international, disaster, and tropical medicine
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