gut wrenching – 15 of 365

overcast. chill off the snow pack. temperature at 10:45 pm, 37°

I want to jump through the tv.  I want to jump into the tv, next to AC, and be all “screw CNN, man, let’s get these orphans on a plane.”  Here’s where I admit, I have an unfortunate crush on AC. He’s choked up about a half a dozen times on 360 tonight.  He should.  This shit’s devastating. Here’s where I also admit, that I’m appalled by the fact that this country, just a puddle jumper ride away from Florida, is in such dire straits.  There’s nothing I can do but open up my checkbook right now- but, if I had a super power, it would be baby rescuing – and I would have a super sling, and I would pluck babies and their caregivers out of the bleak, and I would fix everything.  Sigh. No super sling.  So instead, I hug my baby a little tighter, reload the PIH donation page, and pray.

beyond mountains there are mountains – 14 of 365

overcast.  january thawish. temperature at 10:45  pm,  33°

Paul  Farmer is  talking to Campbell Brown about the state of the most overwhelming disaster we’ve seen since Katrina on this side of the world, and all I can think about is the day he told me, “Tara you do good work here.”  I was answering the door for the Department of Social Medicine, and the phone, and ordering office supplies, and Paul Farmer stopped to say I do good work- when people like Bill Gates wanted his ear to talk about infrastructure in Africa.  That did my 23 year old heart proud.  Funny to see people you’ve met on TV or to read about them in books. Picked up Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains off the bookshelf and started thumbing through again.  Weirdly post-modern holding the book, watching the interview.   Later watched Kidder on Rachel Maddow,  started paying attention to my underlinings.  Notes in books are little time capsules you send yourself.  I try to imagine why I underlined these things so many years ago.

I was looking around in my mind for a consoling way to view the roadside sights and also, frankly, for somethinkg likely to impress Farmer.  A fragment from my religious education bubbled in.  I said, ‘if you’ve done it unto the least of them, you’ve done it unto me’.

‘Matthew twenty-five,’  said Farmer.  ’Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.’ He went on, paraphrasing, ‘When I was hungry, you fed me. When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you took me in. When I was naked, you gave me clothes. When I was sick, when I was in prison, you visited me.  The it says, Inasmuch as you did it not, you’re screwed.’  He smiled, swerving around another giant rut in the road.

At this point, Paul’s just the most recognizable face of PIH, but there are hundreds of people who make Partners happen.  The best part of PIH in Haiti, is that it is mostly run by the people who live there.  Yes, there are medical clinicians from the US, and volunteers, and drugs and funds from other places.  But it is the Hatians who do the majority of  the work in PIH’s medical centers on the island.  Right now, they don’t need to fly folks in to help the injured.  Right now, because these centers were not affected in the quake, they are set up and ready to care and help the helpless.

It’s been almost seven years since I worked for Harvard Med, or saw any of the fabulous people who worked in the office at PIH, but still I hold their work close to my heart, and have been thinking of them often as I watch this coverage.

take the red pill – 13 of 365

overcast. grey all day. temperature at 9:54  pm,  28°

At 23 I moved to Boston, for no other reason but to move to Boston.  After a bit of temping I found a gig at Harvard Medical School  in the Department of Social Medicine.  It was a good gig for a lot of reasons – but one of the best reasons,  I got a crash course in global health and infectious disease.  At the time, our department housed the organization Partners in Health (PIH), as their founder, Paul Farmer,  was a faculty member of the department.   Paul Farmer is pretty amazing, and his work gives him a little bit of rock star status in the field of infectious diseases.   One day, as receptionist, I was being my normal nonplussed self, while taking a call for someone needing to talk to Paul Farmer.  Everyone needed to talk to Paul, especially the press, and a quick internet search would give you his faculty status in our department, and of course, my number at the front desk.  The reality though, at least in my perception, was that Paul far more preferred  taking care of the sick, than taking care of the press.

- Can I speak to Paul Farmer?

- I’m sorry, he’s not available right now,  he’s out of the country, I can give you his assistant.

-Well, when will he be back, I’d like to speak to him.

-(in which I would channel David Spade), And you are,

-I’m Joel Silver’s assistant, you know, producer of the Matrix.

-oh, um, Hi, what can I do for you? (I’m sorry, I’m a nerd, she broke me).

Paul gave the class day speech for Harvard Med, and Joel Silver’s accountant’s (agent’s) daughter (son?) had graduated that day.  Paul had spoken about a doctor’s obligation to heal the sick, and had made a reference to taking the blue pill or the red pill  and really seeing the sick and impoverished of the world.  Apparently, Joel Silver enjoyed collecting Matrix references, and wanted a copy of Paul’s speech.  Matrix references aside, partners in Health is one hell of an organization, and with people already on the ground, and health centers already established, they will be well suited to continue to support the people of Haiti.  Below is a letter I received tonight.  If you are planning on donating money to this relief effort, I ask that you please consider giving through Partners in Health.