Mountains Beyond Mountains Chs 13-16 Reflection by Jenna Gill-Wiehl

Throughout the first half of my internship with Partners In Health, I have had the amazing opportunity to speak with and learn from some amazing people. Re-reading chapters 13-16 reminded me of some of the wisdom they imparted, and I wanted to share it with you all here.

The first lesson is that those interested in “global” health can sometimes forget that the United States is part of that global community, and that there are very real and difficult problems regarding access to care within our own nation. For instance, the book points out that “in Boston’s Mission Hill neighborhood, right next to the Brigham [and incidentally close to where I am living this summer], for instance, infant mortality is higher than in Cuba.” Boston’s PACT program works with clinics in Boston and the US to strengthen a model of accompaniment and care provision for the sick and vulnerable.

We must not forget about the poor and the sick in our own community, even if poverty is often “relative” in the United States. People occasionally look at communities with absolute poverty around the world and comment that those people are much worse off than people who are relatively poor in the US. The Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative and PIH Board Member, Brian Stevenson,  challenged the PIH interns to think of how hard it must be to be poor in the wealthiest nation in the world. Absolute poverty is of course devastating and an enormous issue. But too often, I believe, people (myself included) often look past the suffering in our own communities.

At a meeting today with PIH’s Boston based program, the Prevention and Access to Care and Treatment (PACT) program, we discussed some barriers to care within Boston, a city where nearly everyone has health insurance and that is home to some of the best medical facilities in the world (Massachusetts General Hospital, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, etc.). Some of these barriers to care include poverty, homelessness, racism, abuse, language and literacy. The PACT program uses Community Health Workers to empower their patients and accompany them to care. As GlobeMedders, we must remember that our global health community includes the United States and as Paul Farmer would say, "the only real nation is humanity." When we say health is a human right we mean that health is a human right for everyone, everywhere, and we must take the necessary steps to make this belief a reality by learning about the different issues and advocating for the poor, the sick and the vulnerable both in the US and abroad. 

Mountains Beyond Mountains Chs 9-12 Reflection by Julia McSorley

By this point in the book, I think it’s safe to say that we have all seen how amazing of a human being Paul Farmer is.  As I am continuously astonished with the turn of each page, I can’t help but wonder how he is able to continually give all that he is over to others. The extent to which he dedicates himself is truly inspiring. There is one phrase that keeps coming to mind as I reflect on this. To quote the New Radicals, “You only get what you give.”  Paul Farmer is an extreme example of what it means to fully give your self over to others. With his credentials he could have easily been living a life that many dream of, in a mansion on the beach with a Ferrari parked in the driveway. But instead of choosing these luxuries, Farmer continues to work in harsh, frustrating, and dangerous conditions as he strives to aid the Haitians. He doesn’t do it for fame or fortune; rather he does it because it is the right thing to do.

This internal drive is necessary to have in order to make a difference in a world with so much suffering and injustice, and I believe this drive can be rooted in one’s faith. Farmer’s experiences with global health had confirmed his beliefs. Even after being exposed to the horrors of disease across the world, Farmer claims, “ there was still a place to look for God, and that was in the suffering of the poor.” Although there are many different kinds, having faith is something that people of all backgrounds and all levels in life can share, which in my mind is truly amazing. This commonality reminds us that although we are all different and although we all come from different places, we are all here together in this world and it is our duty to help others.

This seems to be a cliché moral that we have been told since we were children. It is even shown in the University of Notre Dame’s mission statement as it states the goal, “To create a sense of human solidarity and concern for the common good that will bear fruit as learning becomes service to justice.” Its prominence is because of its importance. If we on this planet cannot look out for our fellow man, than what is the point? At the risk of getting to cheesy on you all I will say, you must empty yourself in order to feel full. By helping others we receive the greatest reward there is and that is something that cannot be shown by a mansion or a Ferrari, but rather something that is felt in our hearts. This is the reason I believe Paul Farmer lives the way he does, because he understands the importance of living for others.

Mountains Beyond Mountains Chs 6-7 Reflection by Kinzie Schulz

           To understand a person I think you really have to look at how they grew up. Paul’s father was a man of ideas and constantly moved his family around to suit his new “business endeavors”. It was one idea after another, and although most of them seemed to blow up in their face, “no one ever got seriously injured”. One of the more disastrous plans came after Paul’s father up and bought a boat one day and decided they were all going to make their money living on the ocean while selling fish for a living (in retrospect, it might have been helpful if he knew a thing or two about navigation or really anything about fishing). The boat ended up being disposed of in the only manner appropriate, a “Viking funeral”. While things never really turned out as planned, I respect Paul’s father for trying, for never doing anything “half-ass”, and for not being afraid to take risks. In that way Paul is a lot like his father. He takes risks everyday in doing what he does and most people I think would say it isn’t worth it. He barely gets to see his family because he is traveling so much of the time and he is basically broke because any money he makes goes right into helping his cause.

His dedication to each patient is amazing and is shown in the way he acts, speaks, and how lives his life constantly making sacrifices for others. Seriously I wish I could be him. If one’s goal is to be a doctor they should aim to emulate the essence of Paul Farmer, honest dedication to each patient. If you’re going do your job, do it right. He cares so much that things are done right that he walked six hours in the heat to make sure his patient was coming in for his TB treatment. His response to how ridiculous that may have seemed was “…but you can never invest too much in making sure this stuff works”. I’m not surprised some of his patients think he is a god. After reading this book I almost agree!

The book doesn’t just challenge its reader just to help others, to risk more, or to be more dedicated in one’s endeavors, it also sheds light on the undeniable connection between the health and happiness of its citizens and the stability or corruption of its government. The dictators in Haiti have long been controlled by the interest of the US government who don’t always have the Haitian’s best interest in mind. Kidder tells us how Paul is very passionate about the dam that was built. The people were made to believe this dam was a gift when in reality it was made to help agriculture down stream and ruined the lives of many who lived up stream. The quality of life of many Haitians was diminished by this project, yet nothing was done about it. The rulers in Haiti are often dictators who use “donations” to help the wealthy stay wealthy and to make sure those in power stay in power. It seems outrageous but that’s the way the world is. Too some, these issues may be overwhelming and disheartening. How can we solve this big of a problem just one patient at a time? How can we effect change in the government? Helping one patient at a time may seem like an arduous process that won’t even make a dent in healing the amount of people suffering or in poverty. In this case thought we are dealing with people, people who have families and hopes and dreams and the effects of truly helping one person, no short cuts taken, cannot be measured.

Mountains Beyond Mountains Chs 5-8 Reflection by Jessica Puricelli

Have you ever had one of those moments where you are listening to a song and it seems to fit in exactly with what you are going through? Come on, you know what I’m talking about…. When the lyrics are spot on with how you are feeling and the beat is just right – before you know it, all the drivers around you are staring in your car because you are getting really into it, belting the song as loud as you possibly can, both hands gripped to the steering wheel….

This is exactly how I felt reading chapters 5-8 of Mountains Beyond Mountains. Recently, I have really been trying to find my vocation. No small task for a 20 year old! How in the world are we supposed to decide right now what we want to be doing for the rest of our lives? When I read the first sentence of Chapter 5 – “It was impossible to spend any time with Farmer and not wonder how he happened to choose this life” (48). – I thought to myself, Here it is! Finally some answers to how I should choose my direction!

Here’s what I learned about Paul Farmer when he was about my age: (1) “….he didn’t get straight A’s his first semester of college” (55) (extremely encouraging J), (2) there was a period when “to some of the family, it seemed that [he] might be making that customary American right of passage and turning his back on them” (55),  and (3) he craved his family’s, especially his father’s, approval (56). These all seemed to me to be pretty regular experiences for college kids. There had to be something more! Then I found it--the teachings and ideas of Rudolph Virchow, Gustavo Gutierrez’s liberation theology, Haiti’s history (which reminded him of Lord of the Rings), Latin American culture--Paul Farmer was receptive to the things that caught his attention, and when he found these things, he explored them to the fullest! He capitalized on these things that interested and excited him and based his whole life on them. My first thought was “Wow, that’s risky!” But why should it be? After all, it only makes sense that whatever we do in life, it be founded in things that excite us!

I felt that Farmer’s sympathy when he said, “I’d like to be able to say that when I was young I lived in a trailer park, picked fruit with Haitians, got interested in migrant farmworkers, and went to Latin America. All true, but not the truth. We’re asked to have tidy biographies that are coherent. Everyone does that. But the fact is, a perfectly discrepant version has the same ending” (54). As a college student, I feel all kinds of pressures about figuring out what it is that I want to do, but maybe I should work toward removing myself from these pressures. Maybe instead of worrying so much about planning my future, I should relish in the fact that I don’t know what is coming next. I should focus on figuring out what it is that I love, and run with it. It worked for Paul Farmer, why shouldn’t it work for anyone else? Passion and a good work ethic – seems like a recipe for success to me!

      On a completely unrelated note, I do want to point out a quote from Chapter 6 that really caught my eye: “He’d imagined something different—a hospital at least partly devoted to training Haitians to treat Haitians” (65). I love this notion of teaching the people so they can help themselves. I feel like so often when it comes to global health, there is such a focus on what we can do to alleviate discrepancies that we become transformed into heroes. Last time I checked, though, I didn’t have any super powers. We are all human. Catholic Social Teaching distinguishes between working for a people and working with a people. When approaching issues of global health, I strongly believe it can only be approached through the latter thinking. That is one of the most incredible thing about GlobeMed for me—it does not involve dropping off a duffle bag full of medicine or making a mission trip that offers only temporary improvement, but rather, it is principled in forming a relationship, which mandates the attitude that we are working with our partner.