Ch 1

In chapter one, Tracy Kidder immediately presents the setting of the story: Haiti. He goes on to elaborate on his sojourn to a town called Mirebalais and meticulously details the dire nature of the country. He then converses with Captain Caroll, an American Special Forces captain, in charge of "keeping the peace" among a daunting 150,000 people. Thereafter, a man by the name of Paul Farmer is introduced; evidently the protagonist in this story. Farmer was, by all means, an altruistic fellow. His alma mater is Harvard, and he could virtually be living a very comfortable life. However, he chooses to work in Haiti without pay. He describes himself as "a poor people's doctor".