Making a Difference Before We are "Adults"

For the past couple weeks, I have been reading Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. The book is a deep look into the work of Dr. Paul Farmer, a physician specializing in infectious disease, who has accomplished great work in Haiti and several other third world countries. You can check out some of his work at his non-profit's website, Partners in Health (http://www.pih.org/).

Farmer is a fantastic physician, and an incredible human being for the selfless work he does every day. His noble values and unyielding motivation are amazing to read. What stood out most about what Farmer has accomplished are not his actions per se, but the time period he got involved in his work. Farmer was reading extensively about Haiti, learning its history, and beginning to travel to the country in college! By the time he was in medical school at Harvard, Farmer was flying to Haiti regularly to do medical work. He established his non-profit "Partners in Health" to help fund his work in Haiti in 1983, he was 24.

While it is easy to write off Farmer of as uniquely exceptional, I refuse to believe that it is impossible to do what he has done. And I don't mean medical work. While we can't all start non-profits in Haiti, I think it is very possible for each one of us to find our passion, start running for it, and never look back. Dr. Farmer inspires me to work for my passions even when I haven't "earned my stripes" yet. It is still possible to build programs and organizations and actively change the world, even without a D-R dot or any sort of certification. If you believe you can accomplish things, you can.

I think of how John Mayer's song, "Waiting on the World to Change" always bothered me for some reason. Mayer sang about how we are all "waiting on the world to change" because it is "hard to beat the system when we're standing at a distance." We may never be able to fix the entire system, but Farmer inspires me to try to fix one thing we are passionate about. Regardless of where we are, who we are, or how qualified we may be if we are passionate about something, we can channel that passion into action and change things. Lets not wait on things to change while we sit idly, but be change agents in our organizations, schools, and work places.

Ghandi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Dr. Farmer is proof of how one person could be that change.

Credits:

Mountains beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder [Amazon Link]
Jeptha for the Blogger Pact of 2013

And so it begins...

Over spring break (last week), I went on an incredible, fundamentally life-altering trip to Guatemala. Working with volunteers from all over the world and the Gesundheit Institute, we dressed up daily as clowns (stay with me) and spread happiness to orphanages, clinics, nursing homes, and other places in need of emotional up-lifting. It was a fantastic opportunity to use what remains of my diminished Spanish language skills, help people, act ridiculous, wear old outfits from my high school show choir, and meet incredible people.

I am starting this blog because I made a pact with one of my fellow clowns, a doctor from Calgary, CA, that I would post every week if he did the same. So here it is Jeptha, my first blog post! I'm sure yours will be a great read, and I am looking forward to it!

For my first post, I wrote several emails home during my trip describing the experience. I will include a portion of one of these emails from last week. I discussed the humanitarian clown organization (yes they are a thing, I never knew) we worked with down in Guatemala, Las Fabricas de Sonrisas.

"Las Fabricas de Sonrisas means "Factories of Smiles" and is the name of the Guatemalan clown organization that we are volunteering with here. The structure and history of Fabricas is a fascinating one. The group was founded 5 years ago on the belief that humanitarian clowning could bring love, community, and kindness to Guatemala and the world. The organization is highly structured, with a director board and 75 branches across Guatemala. The organization educates "Doctors" (expert humanitarian clowns) in their school every weekend and during the week the clowns go out to spread smiles to individuals severely in need of happiness throughout Guatemala. They never accept money, and are exclusively staffed by volunteers. The organizations educates clowns in their school in "generations" and through their process have developed an organization over 4000 strong throughout Guatemala. The organization has spread to El Salvador and these clowns of kindness are constantly looking for new opportunities. It is incredible to see an organization with a culture of such professionalism and love in the heart of Guatemala. I learned last night that Guatemala has the highest murder rate in the Western Hemisphere. We are discouraged from walking the streets at night. There are only certain, well lit public places that we are told are safe to go. This place has a certain darkness about it, but that darkness is challenged by the forces of love and kindness that I see in Fabricas. These people are so warm and so loving and I believe may hold the power to changing Guatemala. With more and more clowns every generation, Guatemala is becoming a better place,
one smile at a time."

Thank you for reading, and I will see you next week.

Zach