Mountains beyond mountains

Healthcare and poverty was never an issue for me. It was not something that I have had to deal with because I have always had a roof over my head, clothes on my back, food on my table and healthcare insurance through my mother. But I did feel for the people in Haiti. I can remember when I turned 24 years old and I was cut off my mom’s insurance and racked up $3,000 dollars in medical bills. Reading this book took me back to that place where I could not afford healthcare. At this time, I felt really low because I knew that I didn’t have the funds to get something as simple as a check up done. I can honestly see where the patients from the book were coming from. I wish that at that time I had someone to help me like Dr. Paul Farmer helped those in different countries in the book, <a href="http://The%20Quest%20of%20Dr.%20Paul%20Farmer%20a%20Man%20Who%20Would%20Cure%20the%20World.">Mountains Beyond Mountains</a>,  The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder. The Mountains Beyond Mountains is an informative book written in first person, limited first person, second person and third person to introduce people to Dr. Paul Farmer journeys on his quest to cure the world. Mountains Beyond Mountains is a good book because it helps you realize that no matter what part of the world that we are in we deal with similar issues, healthcare, poverty and injustice.  Kidder, a well-educated author, earned a degree from both Harvard University where he received his Bachelors of Arts in 1967 and the University of Iowa where he earned his Masters in Fine Arts in 1974. He has also won literary awards. In preparation to write this book he went on a journey with Farmer to share a life experience in helping others.

The title of the book Mountains Beyond Mountains is a metaphor for overcoming life obstacles. Tracy Kidder is very honest in his attempt to document the work of Dr. Paul Farmer. He met Farmer in Haiti some time in 1994, by accident. Farmer was a doctor who passionately worked to eliminate poverty and wanted provide some kind of health care to the poor. In this book, there is a constant reinforcement of how poverty is inherited and how the government views the poor as undeserving of healthcare. The peak of the journey occurs when Kidder realizes the true meaning of Farmer’s character. In the book, many Haitians felt that the “rich get richer and the poor stay poor.” The rich people are the ones that can afford to be healthy because they have money. The poor on the other can’t afford it they just don’t have the means to, and they feel that being this way is something that they were born into. Recently in Haiti, an outbreak of cholera hit the people in  outbreak and about 3,000 Haitians and 300,000 people are affected, according to <a href="http://rollingout.com/news-politics/news/death-toll-of-the-cholera-epidemic-in-haiti-reaches-5000/">rollingout.com</a>.

Farmer in many ways proved that just because something is not conventional doesn't mean that it shouldn't be done. Farmer felt that the poor and ill deserve the same opportunities as everyone else in the world, which are mainly decent health care and living conditions.  These are the same conditions that many face in the United States. Everytime I drive off of a freeway ramp I see homless people holding signs, “will work for food,” “sick need medicine, may God bless you.”  It is sad to say, that after reading this book you realize that out here it is really every man for themselves and only the strong survive.  Without Farmer, many of his patients would not have the opportunities that they do to live.  Farmer struggled to overcome providing medical aid to the poor. Farmer acts on his beliefs by working with and being cofounder of <a href="http://v">Partners In Health</a> (PIH). His Love intrest Ophelia Dahl assist him with this organization. PIH organization intentions are to make use of all available resources that campaign on behalf of the ill and to provide healthcare. PIH is also affiliated with <a href="http://standwithhaiti.org/">http://standwithhaiti.org/</a>.  Kidder uses some statistical information to grasp the reader’s attention and to help the reader gain a better understanding of the issues. For example, Zanmi Lasante launched programs for women with AIDS and reduced the rate of HIV by 4 percent. Also, 25 percent of Haitians die before they reach the age of 40 because of famine. This information also helps to clarify the primary purpose of the book, which is to bring awareness to impoverished countries. 

Many times Farmer could have faces defeat, which is ironic to the title of the book. He was constantly portrayed as this “saint like figure’ for his good works. Reading this book you notice Kidder portraying Farmer with such high honor to be God-like. Farmer didn’t even want to be compensated for his work, “I feel ambivalent about selling my services in a world where some can’t buy them. You can feel ambivalent about that, because you should feel ambivalent ...” (p. 24)

Farmer wanted to bring medical attention to places such as Haiti. He campaigned against the double standards of the <a href="http://www.who.int/en/">World Health Organization</a> (WHO). According to the website, “WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system.”  Farmer was bothered by them with because the lack the amount of healthcare that was allocated by WHO. 

             Jim Yong Kim, a Korean doctor, impressed by Farmers work in Haiti, worked with Farmer for a couple of years until he opened his own clinics in Peru where he begun attempting to get the Tuberculosis pandemic under control. When WHO finally adopted new prescriptions for Tuberculosis Kim wrote Kidder, “the world changed yesterday,” (p.299). This comment was important to me as I read it because, reminded me of the type guy the Farmer is. He didn’t change, no matter what happened, he continued to overcome challenging situations and remained passionate about his work. Farmer worked so hard to provide the best in all situations in this book.  

          Now that I look back on this reading, I have a connection with this book. This reading has changed my outlook on life and I realize a lot of the things I take for granted, the most important being my health. Even though, Farmer faced many obstacles, he still strives to do great works. The title of the book itself Mountains Beyond Mountains is figurative language to describe Farmers good deeds, which is something that I deal with everyday.  As readers follow Farmer’s quest of developing ideas and practices of public health, his interactions with the Haitians, his charity, and his attempt to change international medical policies, readers will understand for themselves why Farmer is relevant to the world.

Mountains Beyond Mountains

by Tracy Kidder

352 pp.

Random House Int. - New York

$18.00

“We met because of a beheading, of all things.” Dr. Paul Farmer reminds journalist Tracy Kidder, six years after they first meet. In a stylistic first person retelling of the time they spent together, “Mountains Beyond Mountains” not only profiles the life story of Paul Farmer, but it also narrates the journey of journalist Tracy Kidder as he seeks to understand and relate his understanding to readers.

Farmer is a co-founder of Partners in Health, a global medical aid organization that operates in destitute countries like Peru, Russia and, primarily, Haiti. Operating on the singular belief that everyone, no matter how poor their quality of life is or how hopeless other medical experts may consider their condition to be, deserves proper medical care. Kidder describes Farmer as “the man who would cure the world.”

Born to a father whose views on normalcy stuck firmly outside the norm, Farmer grew up in a variety of places one wouldn't usually imagine finding a young child including an old medical bus and a boat. His mother, Kidder relates, was the rock through which the family found itself tied together. Farmer credits his first exposure to Haiti to his father, whom had Farmer working alongside Haitians picking fruit. Earning a full scholarship to Duke University and later gaining both his medical degree and PhD in anthropology from Harvard., it is after his stint at Duke that Farmer truly becomes ingrained in the suffering of Haiti and embarks upon his life mission to help those who can scarcely afford to help themselves.

Following their first interaction, Kidder thinks of Farmer as a mystery, someone who truly understood Haiti, the troubles it faced and what their people stood for. At the same time, Kidder does not think much about Farmer and quickly forgets all about him.

Following their eventual meet-up several years down the road, Kidder begins to glimpse a tiny bit of the character of Paul Farmer, his idiosyncrasies and strange turn of phrase. In an interview with the Hunffington Post, Kidder describes Farmer as someone who lives outside conventional norms, partly due to his unusual childhood.

From the way Farmer treats every patient as someone who is the most important individual, in that moment, and how Farmer gives nearly all the money he is awarded through various grants and personal paychecks towards the Partners in Health organization, Kidder regards and retells each event with a question. Why do it? This is a question posed not only posed by Kidder but will be a concept that many readers will find themselves encountering as they wade through the complexities of why Paul Farmer does the things he does. It is because Kidder takes on the same role as a reader would in questioning motives that this book truly comes alive with the contradictions that make up Paul Farmer.

Kidder follows Farmer through a variety of situations, all of them adding the ingredients to a final understanding of what this doctor, someone described as being “the hardest working broke man,” is truly about. Kidder presents himself within his writings as a mechanism of skepticism, constantly asking questions everyone wonders but few ever ask. “Is this man for real?” or “Was it really worth it?” are but some of the questions that are presented in his writing.

The book itself is wholly absorbing though the pace wanes significantly when Kidder turns the lens of his writing away from Paul Farmer and on to Partners in Health or the various other actors that make up the story that is Paul Farmer.

Taking a step back from the contents to look at the context in which the writings are delivered offers a sense of Kidder's mastery of the ability to ensnare the reader's attention. Beginning with a rather dark topic, Kidder immediately makes the reader feel that Paul Farmer is someone who looks out for people in ways beyond the convention.

The book follows a non-linear and non-chronological style that first makes the reader interested in this mysterious figure that is Paul Farmer, his ways and motivation for doing the things he does, before delving headfirst into the history that forms an individual. Through judicious use of first person and third person retellings, Kidder paints a portrait of young Paul Farmer through his induction into the woes of Haiti. As a writing technique, it is wholly ingenious to first make a reader curious about the individual before going into the facts that may otherwise be less appealing through the employment of a delayed background to Farmer.

Kidder steps outside his comfort zone when when he chose Farmer as the subject of his latest book. All prior literary endeavors by Kidder were contained within the New England area. Kidder describes the moment in which he truly thinks Farmer is someone who essentially needs to be profiled. In a Huffington Post interview, Kidder says that defining moment was the second time they met in Haiti. In the interview, Kidder describes how he travels along what could passably be a road until they arrive at a literal citadel that sought to alleviate the sickness of all those around. That citadel is called Zanme Lasante, the primary base of operation for Farmer in Haiti.

Kidder also describes how the way Farmer conducted himself intrigued him, the way he would spend hours with patients and never once stopping to rest or how Farmer would travel across a barren country to visit a patient where roads are unable to reach. It is through these observations that Kidder learns of the idea of “dye mon, gen mon,” the beyond mountains, there are mountains.

This singular Haitian proverb sums up Kidder's desire and choice to chronicle the life of Dr. Paul Farmer, that it embodies the very ideology that Farmer operates on. One must first reach the top of the mountain to see the true beauty, yes, but one must also remember that the journey and struggle does not end after scaling a single mountain. Kidder begins his retelling as someone who has yet to read the book and does not know of Farmer's life work because the book itself is, in fact, the story of how Tracy Kidder came to understand the mystery of Paul Farmer. Throughout the book Kidder continues to wonder just how good can one person be and with the closing of the final pages, Kidder shares his eureka moment with the reader.

It is through the various conversations that Kidder chooses to let the reader in on that pieces together the puzzle that is Paul Farmer, truly letting the reader see both his virtues and fatal flaws. Kidder works as the way through which readers will end up perceiving Farmer, a gatekeeper of their interactions and conversations but he strives not only to allow the reader to see the greatness of this one man but also how many of his thoughts and ideas fly in the face of what many would consider the correct way of thinking. This is especially highlighted during conversations portrayed while the pair were in Cuba.

As Tracy Kidder himselfs says, he manages to capture the truth about Farmer, his life, and his work in “Mountains Beyond Mountains.” The Truth, however, is something that continues to rest in the work that Dr. Paul Farmer, a man who would cure the world, does.

This book, this epic tale of one man's quest to make the world a better place, is something everyone should read. While masterfully told in the way a journalist profiles, truly exemplifying a pinnacle of crafting words, “Mountains Beyond Mountains” shares a story that is so much more than a well crafted piece of written work.

There is a little bit in “Mountains Beyond Mountains” for everyone of every walk of life and everyone should read it. The content does not encumber itself with the purpose of changing the world through the story of Paul Farmer but rather seeks to help shed a little bit of light on Partners in Health but, most especially, a glimpse of the individual who dared to tread on a path so seldom taken.

While there content that will appeal to anyone, it is not something that will be read by everyone and this very fact is a bit saddening. “Mountains Beyond Mountains” illustrates the complex tapestry that is international politics in regards to healthcare for those in poverty, highlights the injustice of U.S. involvement in various countries around the world but most importantly, is something that provides enough depth to the heart of the issue that Paul Farmer fights with everyday, that everyone deserves to live healthy, even if the world says they are too poor.

An idea that remains relevant till this day, despite the book itself being nearly a decade old, given the voracious debate that continues to plague the United States over the right to healtcare. Paul Farmer would say something cheeky but as Tracy Kidder says “if only he didn't say **** so often.”