Inspired
Posted by benjamin in Reflections, tags: development, Haiti, inspiration, Paul Farmer, technology, wisdomRecently, I’ve been reading Mountains Beyond Mountains (by Tracy Kidder) which follows “The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World”. Paul Farmer is a ‘doctor, Harvard professor, infectious disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur “genius grant”, world-class Robin Hood’, and he’s slowly becoming an inspiration for me.
It’s amazing to read the story of Farmer, as I cross some of his paths in Cange and Mirebalais in the Central Plateau of Haiti. I was lucky to visit the small town of Colombier to help with a USAID SYAP (Single Year Assistance Program) food distribution to 200 households this past week. The Central Plateau is green and hilly. And the people living there eke out a living by growing bananas on the sides of the steep mountains. So I am seeing first-hand a part of what is in the book.
I probably have to re-read the book a few times to really digest it and to collect my thoughts. In any case, I already have a few more Paul Farmer books on order and Partners in Health is on my small list of “to-give” NGOs. Here are a few quotes from the book that stuck out to me:
“Do you know what appropriate technology means? It means good things for rich people and shit for the poor…”
- Father Lafontant (Chapter 9, Mountains Beyond Mountains)
This one hits home at me since my motto/business card tagline has recently been: “Innovative and Appropriate Information and Communications Technology for Development”.
“Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world. Indeed, they are the only ones who ever have.”
- Margaret Mead (Chapter 18)
Margaret Mead: Another anthropologist… My sister has been tinkering with cultural anthropology together with community development and I’m beginning to see how important they are to each other.
[...] how much could be done in Haiti if only [Farmer] could get his hands on the money that the first world spent on pet grooming.
- (Chapter 22)
I’ve recently become fond of cats and dogs again…
“I didn’t say you should do what I do. I just said that things should be done!” -Farmer (Chapter 24)
Still chewing on this one…
“You should compare suffering. Which suffering is worse. It’s called triage.”
“How about if I said, That’s all it adds up to is defeat? [...] I have fought the long defeat and brought other people on to fight the long defeat, and I’m not going to stop because we keep losing. Now I actually sometimes we may win.”
“I don’t care if we lose, I’m gonna try to do the right thing.”
- Farmer (Chapter 26)
This one is tough. I’m still chewing on all of it.
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