Tracy Kidder, author of "Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure The World," visited Elon Sept. 25-26. Kidder spoke to classes, held question-and-answer sessions and gave a lecture Tuesday, Sept. 26. Details...
“Mountains Beyond Mountains” is Elon’s Common Reading for 2006-07. Kidder became acquainted with Farmer in 1994 while working on a story about American soldiers in Haiti. Kidder traveled extensively to research the remarkable story of Farmer, who has traveled to Haiti, Tanzania and various other countries around the world to bring better health care to the poor.
During a question-and-answer session Monday afternoon with students in Whitley Auditorium, Kidder said his first trip to Haiti was an eye-opening experience.
“There were children in the airport who were clearly starving to death,” Kidder said. “There were women giving birth on the side of the road.”
Following Farmer on his various journeys presented a wide spectrum of emotions, Kidder said, “but overall, it was an exhilirating experience even though I saw many hardships, because something was being done to help these people.”
Kidder responded to a student question about the obligation of the world’s prosperous countries to help those less fortunate.
“I think the rich countries do owe some obligation to the poorer countries,” Kidder said. “I’m not saying that individually we’re responsible for the suffering in those countries, but if we’re honest with ourselves, we have to acknowledge that some of our privileges have been built on the suffering of others.”
Another student asked Kidder if he thought his writing in books like “Mountains Beyond Mountains” could help change the world.
“I used to believe, when I was your age, that writing could change things,” Kidder said. “But I wrote a lot of editorials about Haiti for the New York Times and it didn’t seem to change anything. For some reason, those guys in the White House didn’t listen to me.”
Kidder said he considers Farmer a friend, even though he tried to be objective and keep some distance between the two as he wrote the book. “I try to be a good guest in other people’s lives,” Kidder said. “My first obligation is to my readers, so there is a certain distance, a certain tension” with a subject.
Kidder said he believes the work of Farmer and others is making a difference in countries like Haiti. He said it would be “unconscionable” for him to declare Haiti a lost cause.
“When they have the chance to democratically elect a president, they turn out in numbers that shame us,” Kidder said. “I have this naive notion that if we put ideology and politics aside…we can fix it.”