nWo Sting's Brother

Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains  came to my attention through my AP English teacher, the same one who gave me the idea to keep a blog of these books.  The subject of the book is one of Kidder's personal friends, Dr. Paul Farmer.  If anyone ever says that advocating for social change is futile, refer them to this book.  Trained as both a medical doctor and medical anthropologist, Farmer is a relentless advocate for social justice.

In this book, Kidder recounts how he met Farmer in Haiti, where Farmer first began developing his organization, Partners in Health.  Today, PIH has projects all over the world in places such as Peru, Russia, and Rwanda.  One of the things I admire most in Farmer is his desire to create projects with lasting efficacy.  So many international health projects I hear or read about just have mission trips which are essentially band-aids.  Farmer, with his anthropological eye, is able to effectively analyze and address the issues in the places he goes.

This is a great read for anyone interested in medicine and/or social justice.  Farmer's work is something that is on my mind often since reading this book.  And if you are wondering about this post's title, Farmer's brother is Jeff Farmer, formerly known has nWo Sting, a wrestler from when I was a kid.