Haiti

I certainly do not have the words to make sense of what has happened. Poor Haiti, indeed the poorest country in the western Hemisphere. Blighted, looted, damaged. Pooja Bhatia wrote some commentary in today's New York Times, and says, in the article "Haiti's Angry God": "If God exists, he's really got it
in for Haiti. Haitians think so, too." Now, that's a theological/philosophical discussion for another time.

But someone does love Haiti: Dr. Paul Farmer.

I love this man's work. I admire him as much as I admire anyone else in the public sphere. He inspires me. He makes me want to find areas of moral clarity and go to work; he is a secular saint. I remember that both Elizabeth and I were on fire for a time, fueled by the amazing profile we read about this visionary. I suppose there is not much to show for all my Paul Farmer admiration, but he is often in my mind, and I think frequently of the good work he and Partners in Health, his foundation, have done in Haiti ... and now Rwanda, Russia and elsewhere in the world. I would like to do more to support our church's humanitarian efforts in some of those same causes.

As I mentioned, we (Elizabeth and I) first *met* Paul Farmer in the New Yorker article "The Good Doctor" (as I have noted on this blog, I think). Tracy Kidder, the article author, then memorably biographed Farmer in a full-book treatment titled Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World. I recommend the book to everyone I know, and my book club read it last fall.

What Farmer accomplishes in the section of Haiti where he established his clinic is miraculous. A worthy read that could change your life. Or heart.