Last week I read a book entitled Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World, by Tracy Kidder. The book was nothing short of incredible. Kidder followed Dr. Farmer around for a few years while composing his biography, and to read of Farmer's seamless passion, or as he would put it, "preferential option for the poor" was future-shaping.

On top of that, I've been crawling through Written in Blood: The Story of the Haitian People, 1492-1995 by the Heinls. This 800 page mammoth is wordy and slow at times, but the education I'm getting from it is priceless.

A common theme I've encountered (and undoubtedly continue to come across) is one of undermining. The country of Haiti, time and time again, since its discovery has been subject to a nearly endless flow of undermining, impairment, and sabotage from within and from foreign interests (especially France and the U.S.) But, despite that, the people continue. They plod on with life.

This is a subject that I've been pondering over for a few weeks now and am in the process of trying to order and inscribe my thoughts. Expect a post in the upcoming days/weeks about this issue. In the meantime, here are a few articles/websites that give a good intro to Haiti's past and present.

A VERY brief look at U.S.-Haitian history...note the word VERY

The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti

The Partners in Health statement on Haiti

A Q&A on Haiti w/ the BBC



"Only in Haiti would a child cry out that she's hungry during a spinal tap. "
-Dr. Paul Farmer, upon hearing the little girl he was operating on cry out for food while performing a spinal tap on the side of a road near his home in Haiti