“Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World” by Tracy Kidder

 

 

When I heard the news a little more than a week ago that Paul Farmer had died of a heart attack in his sleep, I immediately ordered a copy of this book that I had read shortly after it was published in 2003.  I was immensely impressed and inspired by this story then, and as I re-read the book I was inspired again, maybe even more so now.  Makes me want to know the rest of the story.

The author, Tracy Kidder, accompanied Farmer to many of the places where he made such an impact in the lives of thousands, through his tireless work to both treat disease in situations of extreme poverty as well as to create public health systems and models that were adopted by many countries and international health organizations. 

Back when I read this book, I was traveling around the world trying to do my bit to improve the lives of poor people through development projects.  Paul Farmer was also traveling to many counties, especially Haiti, Peru, Russia, and Chiapas state in Mexico, but I must admit that his passion and seemingly endless energy and intelligence far out strip any thing I ever contributed to our common endeavor.  I never ran across him even though we traveled to many of the same countries.

The book tells the story of Paul Farmer up until he was about 42 years old.  When he passed in Rwanda, he was just 62, and was spending time there teaching at the Hospital and University of Global Health Studies he founded.  His specialty was infectious diseases, especially tuberculosis and AIDS.

He and several others founded the organization Partners in Health, which initially was to raise support for the hospital and rural health program he established in the central highlands of Haiti, where some of the poorest of the poor in this hemisphere live. Now PIH works in many more countries with astounding success. The PIH model is one of accompaniment and forming partnerships with local organizations and governments.  That is same the approach I was promoting during the years I was with Lutheran World Relief, Heifer International and Agros International.

So much has been written about and by Paul Farmer. It is available on the internet, so I should not try to cover too much of his life and legacy in this short review. He was a visionary and humble, even as he gained international fame.  He was happiest when trekking out for hours (mountains beyond mountains) to visit the sick in shacks in the Haitian countryside.

He earned his MD from Harvard Medical School at the same time as he finished a Doctorate in Anthropology from Harvard. During his career he kept one foot in the US medical system on the staff of Brigham and Woman’s hospital in Boston and taught at Harvard Medical school.  The other foot was in Haiti, and later with the poor in other countries. 

I was intrigued to learn that he got much inspiration from Liberation Theology, which had arisen out of left leaning theologians of the Catholic Church in Latin America in the 1960 and 70s.  He was raised a Catholic but did not subscribe to much of that doctrine in later years, but certainly adopted the Catholic teachings on justice and service to the poor. 

One of the tenets of Liberation Theology was to take the “Preferential Option for the Poor” – which in Farmer’s shorthand was O for the P.  He said this:

The basis of our preferential option for the poor is to say: I accompany them not because they are all good, or because I am all good, but because God is good.

Many other Paul Farmer quotes can be found on the internet.  One that I have heard many times is this one, but I didn’t realize it came from him. 

If I am hungry, that is a material problem; if someone else is hungry, that is a spiritual problem.

If you are in market to be inspired in this world of seemingly endless injustice and poverty, I recommend this book. 

Jerry Aaker, March 2022