"Mountains Beyond Mountains" Discussion Questions

1.What do you know about Haiti? What questions do you have about Haiti? Many people go to the Caribbean for cruises or vacations. Is Haiti one of the typical destinations? Why?

I have never really been good at keeping up with the world news, so as you would expect I do not know much about Haiti. I just know that it is located by the Caribbean, on the Western third of Hispaniola. I also know that earlier this year a very powerful earthquake struck and devastated the lives of many people living in that area. I don’t have any questions about Haiti, just about the world as a whole. I would like to know why it takes an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 for us Americans to finally open our eyes to this third world country. Before this earthquake I didn’t even know Haiti existed, it’s pretty sad. Many people go on vacations every year; Haiti of course is not a typical destination. A reason for that is like I said above; it is a third world country. People want to go on vacation where they can sit down, drink a Pina Colada and not have to worry about anything and as you may suspect, Haiti is not that place.


2.What would you guess the title means? What have been your experiences with mountains? Do they have a spiritual dimension for you?

I would guess that the title “Mountains Beyond Mountains” means that when you overcome one great obstacle you simply gain a clear view of the next one. I think it means that problems and opportunities are unlimited and never-ending. I have had a few experiences with “mountains,” one good example that I have would be cross country. I hate the sport, I guess I do it because I am good at it and it gets me in shape for soccer season. I take it one day at a time, and every weekend we have a meet. I guess I can consider those races, mountains. I overcome them by thinking to myself that I am almost done and I haven’t worked this hard throughout the season to just give up. I surmount that mountain and I simply get a clearer view of the next week’s mountain.


3. Kidder uses the term “narrating Haiti.” What do you think he means?

I think that by using this term he is trying to get us to see Haiti through another point of view. He tells us about all the horrible conditions that the Haitians live in and in that way he is narrating it. He is telling people the truth about Haiti, not what people want to hear, but the plain black and white truth. The definition of narrate is to give a spoken or written account of, Tracy Kidder gives a spoken and written account of Haiti.


4.How is Haiti “covered with the fingerprints… of France and the United States?” (73) In what ways are wealthy countries responsible for the poverty of other countries?

I think that a better way of putting this would have been “Haiti is covered with the footprints of France and the US.” Think about it, how is it that some people here (very lucky ones) get to live in luxury and peace, while people in Haiti have to wake up wondering if they are going to eat that day or even that week. I feel that before the first earthquake America walked all over Haiti, not only Haiti, but all the third world countries. I feel that we have set ourselves superior to all other poorer countries and we are taking advantage of it. Why is it that only now we begin to help them, only at the brink of destruction when they are about to give up all hope. I think that we are somewhat responsible for the poverty of other countries because we haven’t helped as much as we could, like I said, we wait until that country is about to plummet and then we begin to help.


5.Look up the website for Partners in Health (PIH). What gets your attention? Would you consider making a donation? Why or why not?

One thing that got my attention was that they pretty much got straight to the point. They didn’t have an introduction or anything, saying who came up with the idea or any information about Haiti’s situation. I really do like this idea though, I don’t know if I would consider giving a donation because I would rather do a hand on kind of service for Haiti. Like putting together care packages for the people there or even doing a Pen Pal, just to let somebody out there know that they are not alone.