Bibliographic Info:
Title: Mountains Beyond Mountains
Author: Tracy Kidder
Publisher: The Random House Publishing Group
Year Published: 2003
Precis:
Paul Farmer was raised in a family that was not really rich, but he was always an intelligent student who made his father proud. He went to collge with a full scholarship and studied many subjects. However, his experience and observations in Haiti made him decide to become a doctor who really tries to make the poorest starving people healthier. He belives strongly that free medical care and support be provided to the needy, and that if nobody was going to do it; he will.
Quotes/Responses:
"Giving people medicine for TB and not giving them food is like washing your hands and drying them in the dirt." (Page 34)
Response: Even though this quote made sense, it still struck me as I read the book. Just simply curing a disease does not automatically make the patient in their best health. The people in Haiti easily get ill because of their living conditions and poverty. A third world country will never be able to escape their hopeless conditions by simply giving out medications. I think that's one of the many things Dr. Farmer observed, and that is why he goes out of his way to talk and speak with different patients. There is no simple solution but clearly there is a lack of effort which is upsetting and dissapointing.
"But, as they themselves often remarked, they didn't even get electricity or water for their land. Most didn't get money either. In fact, the dam was meant to benefit agribusiness downstream, mostly American-owned back then, and also to supply electricity to Port-au-Prince, especially homes of the numerically tiny, wealthy Hatian elite and to foreign-owned assembly plants." (Page 37-38)
Response: This passage furthered my questioning of, "Are people trying enough to help areas of extreme poverty?" Where is all the donations going to? If the majority of the people of Haiti are starving and dying, why is there a dam being created to benefit the few elites? That makes no sense to me, and makes me feel as though people in general are so selfish. There is a lack of selfless individuals such as Paul Farmer.
"It would make sense to provide medicine in the places that needed it most, and there was no place needier than Haiti, at least in the Western Hemisphere, and he hadn't seen any plance in Haiti needier than Cange..He'd find out that the hospital
would charge patients for its use." (Page 81)
Response: This furthered my dissapointment because obviously the conditions of Haitian lives are devastating because they don't have money. Why are hospitals being built if the people there can't even afford the money for treatment? It's pointless!
So far, this book has been upsetting me. I thought I knew that there are countries far worse than the U.S (ofcourse) but I can't help but get the impression that people simply don't want to help the needy. Many of the donations do not seem to go to the needy and simply the few rich. I also got the impression that (besides Dr. Farmer) the doctors that are there are simply hopeless. I feel as though people in general can feel pitiful towards the suffering, but don't make enough of an effort to change their lives. There aren't many people like Farmer, who feel deeply moved and actually go take action. On the other hand, the needy people deal illness and dying as hopelessness unless help comes.
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