Student revisits Haiti through first ‘Common Book Experience’

By Kathy Byrd

When Ben Pierce began the required reading for his English composition course at Pellissippi State this fall, he did not expect to be reliving a trip he took a year and a half ago.

But when he opened Tracy Kidder’s “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” Pierce was instantly transported back to Haiti, a small Caribbean country of astonishing natural beauty juxtaposed with abject poverty that he visited in February of 2005.

As the choice for Pellissippi State’s first Common Book Experience, “Mountains Beyond Mountains” is a part of the Foundations of Excellence initiative, which has the goal of improving the learning and success of students in their first year of college. Kidder’s critically acclaimed work of nonfiction was given to incoming students and is the focus of discussion in several first-year courses.

The book chronicles the life and work of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Harvard-educated physician and anthropologist who challenges bureaucratic health-care policies with his humane treatment of those suffering from debilitating disease in the poorest countries in the world.

Most of Farmer’s work has been done in Haiti, and Kidder’s vivid descriptions of the living conditions there caught Pierce’s attention because he, too, had witnessed the malnourished children, the polluted drinking water, the shacks that masquerade as homes and the devastating effects of disease.

“The book describes Haiti to a T,” said Pierce, an Alcoa High School graduate who attends Blount County Center.

Pierce traveled to a Haitian village about 75 miles northeast of the capital city of Port-au-Prince as part of a small humanitarian effort led by Drs. Larry Rahn and David Saxon. The doctors’ wives, the Saxons’ daughter Jasmine, and Pierce, all of Blount County, and four people they met in Miami who volunteered to join them completed the group. The 10 of them set up a temporary clinic at an orphanage called Eden Garden and treated more than 1,000 patients in three days.

Even in that brief period, Pierce saw many of the details he later read about in the pages of Kidder’s book: the “chaotic nature” of the clinic, its people standing elbow to elbow waiting to get medical care; the roads full of potholes; the “tap-taps,” the converted trucks that serve as a rudimentary form of transportation; and the political turmoil.

“When I first got off the plane, I was scared,” he said. “There were people driving around with guns in their trucks. I knew immediately that I was in a Third World country.”
The fact that Farmer continues his work in the face of such danger is one of many reasons Pierce admires the heroic figure he sees in Kidder’s account.

“I respect Paul Farmer for risking his life to do his work there,” Pierce said.

The book’s portrayal of Farmer’s selfless devotion to helping those in need also made an impact on the 20-year-old business student.

“He just blows my mind,” Pierce said of Farmer. “His entire life is devoted to Haiti. He’s a doctor, and he didn’t even consider staying in America for 10 or 12 years, making lots of money before he went to help out in Haiti. Money is the last thing on his mind. He’s happy if he’s helping others. He’s an excellent role model.”

Pierce’s brief experience in Haiti gave him a fresh perspective on the material excess available to many Americans, a view that reading “Mountains Beyond Mountains” only reinforced.

“Our ‘stress’ is no stress at all” compared to the struggle for survival the people of Haiti face day to day, according to Pierce.

“I don’t have anything to be sad about,” he said. “The trip made me appreciate the things I have—good health, food to eat and clean water to drink.”

Pierce was also struck by the optimism and joy of the Haitian people, a description echoed in the book.

“Maybe they just don’t know what they don’t have,” he said, “but those people are so happy.”

The Blount County group presented dollar-store toys to the children at the orphanage, and the trinkets elicited bright smiles. The midday meal at Eden Garden is the children’s largest of the day, says Pierce, and in a country where food is not easy to come by, the portions are consumed with appreciation and gusto.

“They eat every bite,” he said.

Coming from a country with skyrocketing obesity rates, Pierce couldn’t help but notice the almost universal thinness of the people and the animals he saw in Haiti.

“They can barely afford to feed themselves, so they certainly can’t feed their animals,” he said. “Being overweight in Haiti is a sign of wealth.”

Reading “Mountains Beyond Mountains” has helped Pierce recall the intensity of his Haitian experience.

“I had kind of forgotten those things in the year and a half since I was there,” he said. “This book helped me remember and appreciate all I have in my life.”

He also has praise for Pellissippi State’s Common Book Experience, especially the first year’s selection.

“It’s popular,” he said of the Kidder book. “People like it. I’m hearing a lot of kids talking about it, and I’d recommend it to anyone. It’s a motivational book.”

Reading it has reminded Ben Pierce of his own desire to serve.

“Right now, I’ve got college to focus on,” he said. “But I definitely would like to go back to Haiti someday and do what I can to help.”