{"id":20671,"date":"2020-12-08T09:08:26","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T13:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=20671"},"modified":"2020-12-14T00:42:46","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T04:42:46","slug":"tracy-kidder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/tracy-kidder\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracy Kidder: Inspired to Write Paul Farmer’s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Who is Tracy Kidder and how did he meet Paul Farmer? Why did he want to learn about Farmer’s life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tracy Kidder was embedded with US Army officials during a political intervention in Haiti: the US was attempting to restore Haiti\u2019s leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide<\/a> to power, after he had been removed by the military junta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to learn about Tracy Kidder and Paul Farmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Tracy Kidder: Connecting With Paul Farmer<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kidder first met Farmer in 1994 during a political intervention in Haiti. Kidder was embedded with US Army officials who were attempting to restore a democratic leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in Haiti, which had been ruled by a military junta for the previous three years. Kidder and Farmer happened to be taking the same flight on the way back to the states, and Kidder used the opportunity to learn about Farmer\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmer was 35 years old and worked part of the year at a hospital in Boston. For the rest of the year, he worked at his hospital in rural Haiti. Farmer was frustrated by how many diseases around the world would be preventable if people were only given the appropriate treatment. He thought that people in the US, particularly \u201cwhite liberals,\u201d needed to recognize that big change couldn\u2019t happen without some sacrifice on their part. For example, Farmer hoped that if someone learned about a disease afflicting the poor, they\u2019d give money to help treat it rather than assuming it\u2019d resolve itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, Tracy Kidder had dinner with Farmer in Boston. He wanted to use Farmer\u2019s knowledge of Haiti to inform his reporting on the US\u2019s political intervention aimed at restoring Haiti\u2019s democratic government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2000, Kidder visited Farmer in Haiti to observe the area and the hospital he worked in first-hand. Farmer\u2019s hospital was called Zanmi Lasante<\/a>, meaning \u201cPartners in Health\u201d in Creole. It served a great need for medical care in the local area. Though there were other hospitals and clinics, many required patients to pay more than they could afford for treatment, including for the medical equipment used to treat them, like gloves. Furthermore, many clinics lacked basic sanitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, though the staff at Zanmi Lasante sometimes made mistakes or botched lab testing, they were able to offer more affordable services. Farmer insisted that the hospital treat nearly everyone, regardless of their ability to pay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of Farmer\u2019s accomplishments included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n