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From Haiti to Rwanda, Paul Farmer Moves Mountains

April 15, 2008

 

Paul E. Farmer, Presley professor of social medicine at Harvard Medical School, made the front page of the Boston Sunday Globe this week with his work in providing healthcare in rural Rwanda.

Farmer launched the nonprofit Partners in Health 20 years ago in Haiti; the organization has since expanded to eight other countries. Farmer and his wife, Didi Bertrand, have made Rwanda their home base; Farmer recently obtained citizenship there and joined the Rwandan Medical Society.

Two decades into his humanitarian work, Farmer seems to be charging full steam ahead. He tells the Globe: “I go to bed worrying about all the promises we’ve made, and I get up each morning thinking we haven’t made enough promises.”

That story is here; for more on Farmer’s work, read an excerpt from Mountains Beyond Mountains, a book by journalist Tracy Kidder ’67, from the Harvard Magazine archives.

  1. November 11, 2009

    My wife and I would like to grow up to be just like Paul Farmer! My wife graduated from USC School of Medicine and is now a resident at a Family Residency program at UCLA. After the program, she and I are considering South Africa to assist in the HIV/AIDs epidemic or something similar. But, how do we pursue this vision when all we see is a mountain of debt in front of us?
    Jesus said something about moving “Mountains Beyond Mountains” if we have faith of a mustard seed. Our “Mountain” is a 200k student loan! Where do we find this faith?

    ~Cedric Lee

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