Religion
Religion is a major theme in the Mountains Beyond Mountains, especially Catholicism and the indigenous religion of Haiti, sorcery and voodoo. During Dr. Farmer's treks into the country villages to care for ill people, he often encountered voodoo relics and villagers who attributed their illnesses to a voodoo spell. Many of the people Dr. Farmer worked alongside were Catholic priests who were in Haiti as missionaries. In Haiti, the official religion is Catholicism; however sorcery is practiced widely by the villagers. Voodoo is practiced by almost Haitians; and Catholicism takes on elements of voodoo, such as carrying around handcrafted tokens as a form of protection against spells. The Haitians believe that evil spirits can be sent by people to wreak havoc in someone's life, frequently in the form of disease. Often times, the sick are sent outside to live, by their own family members, in an effort to avoid evil spirits from entering the home and afflicting everyone in the family. Dr. Farmer often worked alongside voodoo priests in assisting ailing villagers. He believed the Haitians resorted to sorcery because of the unavailability of medical services.
Dr. Paul Farmer is a Catholic who began believing more in liberation theology. Liberation theology was first established in 1973 by Gustavo Gutierrez, a Peruvian Roman Catholic priest. Catholics who believe in liberation theology think that according the Gospel of Christ, the church should focus eliminating poverty and oppression.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide was a Catholic priest before being elected president of Haiti, and was influenced by the tenets of liberation theology which teaches Christians to work for social and economicjustice for all people. For Aristide, criticizing the repressive dictatorship of Jean Claude Duvalier was his religious role of protecting the poor in Haiti.
Politics
Everything that happens in Haiti is a
direct result of the political situation—the thirty-year dictatorship of the
Duvaliers and the longstanding corruption, all of which resulted in a denial of
foreign aid and an impoverished landscape. The elder Duvalier misappropriated
funds and his son openly embezzled foreign aid. As a result, for many
years international governments and organizations stopped sending aid to
Haiti's because they could not trust that their money was actually being used
to help the poor. They could not trust the government.
The political instability that followed the Duvalier dictatorship in the 1990s and resulted in his overthrow, led to the extreme negligence in taking care of Haiti and its people. Poor infrastructure (roads and public transportation) and few resources for public healthcare were among the primary problems. During this time, Dr. Farmer was not permitted in Haiti. He traveled the U.S., lecturing widely on Haiti's political situation and trying to raise awareness. Finally, in 1994, Aristide came to power and Farmer went back to Haiti resuming his work at Zanmi Lasante.
Political stability created an atmosphere where public health resources could be built. After the democratically elected Aristide came into power, the country became more focused on health care and working with international organizations to aid in solving Haiti's problems like inadequate health care.
When Dr. Farmer first arrived in Haiti in 1983 public health care was nonexistent. People were starving and dying everywhere because of diseases that had been nearly eradicated in the developed world. In addition, AIDS was an emerging cause of death. By the end of 2005, Haiti's external debt was at its highest; but as a result of Dr. Farmer's work there was a health center funded by PIH and funds were donated by the World Health Organization (WHO) to help in alleviating poverty. In addition, with the new political regime of Aristide, foreign aid was reintroduced. More...
(This entire section contains 882 words.)
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recently, foundations have donated millions of dollars to help Haiti as a result of Dr. Farmer's work—the Gates Foundation and the Hilton Foundation.
Of the political situation in Haiti, Dr. Farmer said, “I would read stuff from scholarly texts and know they were wrong. Living in Haiti, I realized that a minor error in one setting of power and privilege could have an enormous impact on the poor in another.”
The most recent developments are included in the final chapter. Dr. Jim Kim, who worked with Dr. Farmer in forming Partners in Health (PIH), returned to Haiti with his newly established Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities (DSMHI) sponsored by Brigham and Women's hospital. The DSMHI was responsible for clinical research results that demonstrated to the Ministry of Health in Haiti that drug resistant TB can be treated. Dr. Kim is the chief of the DSMHI and uses the research center results to challenge Haiti's governing health department, so that they will continue treating the TB patients. This is a very expensive proposition for Haiti because new drugs have to be utilized to treat the the multi-resistant TB; however, with the new research center's results, they can develop an effective treatment plan.
More recently, PIH has worked closely with the Haitian Ministry of Health to improve the public health system by rebuilding hospitals, staffing them with trained professionals and employing community health workers to go into the villages. In 2008, President Rene Preval said that he intends on improving the primary health care, making public clinics accessible, while utilizing preventive medicine for family planning and prenatal care.
Overview
Vocation and Service
Vocation and service is a
recurrent theme in the book Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr.
Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World. Dr. Farmer's work goes beyond
a career in that he spent everyday of his life, all day long and every weekend,
working to alleviate the substandard medical conditions in Haiti. It is obvious
that Paul Farmer is committed to improving the lives of the poor, especially in
the area of infectious diseases which was his specialty, helping those
with tuberculosis and AIDS. "Career" does not summarize Dr. Paul Farmer's
work in Haiti, nor does it describe his work at Bingham and Women’s hospital in
Boston. It was more like a calling to service. While working at the
hospital in Boston as an infectious disease specialist, he never forgot Haiti;
he started a health care charity, Partners in Health (PIH) to fund medical
centers in Haiti to alleviate the suffering of Haitian people.
Dr. Farmer's role models were mostly priests and nuns and a few anthropologists whom immersed themselves in the people's lives. His first role model was Sister Juliana, a nun working in North Carolina who helped migrant workers. Father Jack was a priest he admired and worked with who also lead a life of service. In addition, Dr. Jim Kim also exhibited this dedication to he poor. When Dr. Farmer was challenged, he often quoted Margaret Mead, the famous anthropologist, who said, “Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world.”
Farmer expected others with whom he worked to be as self-sacrificing as himself. Often he would become impatient because of obstacles that prevented him from realizing his goals. People were attracted to his excellence, commitment and sincere heart; and those who were equally hard-working followed his lead and dedicated themselves to improving the public health conditions in Haiti.
