Dr. Paul Farmer’s childhood in poverty molded him into a compassionate doctor with an addiction to helping the sick. His numerous experiences as a boy, constantly relocating with his family, stayed with him as an adult doctor, as he developed the ability to perform in any setting, in front of anybody, no matter the consequences. He developed a “very compliant GI system… with the ability to concentrate anywhere (p. 54). For instance, “he could sleep in a dentist’s chair, as he did at night for most of one summer in a clinic in Haiti, and consider it an improvement over other places he had slept (p. 54). Farmer, accustomed to poor living conditions when he was younger, learned to appreciate what was given to him, and therefore gained the ability to work in any setting, no matter the distractions that surrounded him. Kidder even describes how Farmer was never shy in front of anybody, due to a lack of a “homing instinct because he never had a hometown” (p. 54).
If Farmer had grown up in a more affluent community, I certainly believe that his adult life would have been much different. Through every stage of his childhood, Farmer was guided by his strong-willed parents. And when he finally left home to attend Duke University on a full scholarship, and he came back saying that he could only wear preppy clothes, his father said to him “Pel the pretty can still clean the bilge” (p.55). His family and his childhood in poverty greatly shaped his unique character and adult life.
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