Me with Dr. Paul Farmer and Wyclef Jean
Me with Edwidge Danticat, Haitian author
Last night was incredible. I received an invitation last week from the office of the president of Brown University inviting me to dinner with Dr. Paul Farmer and Edwidge Danticat. I nearly jumped out of my seat. Though I’ve been sick for the last several days, I pulled myself out of bed and popped one of the IBUprofen that the doctor gave me and made my way to the dinner. I was the first to arrive and got a look at the guest list. I was shocked to see that of all the guests, only a few handful of people had been assigned a particular table to sit at and I was one of them. I nearly lost my balance when I saw who else would be sitting at my table. I was first of all, seated right next to the man who inspired me from the very beginning when I decided to dedicate my life to working in Haiti, Dr. Paul Farmer. Also sitting at my table was the president of Brown University, Ruth Simmons and the one and only music superstar Wyclef Jean. Also in attendance at the dinner was a great mentor of mine, Patricia Symonds and several prominent figures at Brown like Patrick Sylvain (Haitian studies professor), Dr.Susan Cu-Uvin (Director of the Global Health Initiative), Dr. Tim Empkie (Director of the Global Heatlh Concentration Program) and Africana studies professor Tony Bogues. It was an unforgettable night.
When Dr. Farmer first walked in, he was arm in arm with my mentor Pat Symonds. When I went to go reintroduce myself, he had already known who I was (Prof. Symonds reminded him on his way over, I’m sure). He congratulated me on the Do Something Award and continued to tell me how proud he was of the work that I’m doing in Haiti. We could hardly believe that it was six years ago when we first met. I was a freshman in college waiting in line to get my book signed by him and to tell him how badly I wanted to spend the rest of my life working in Haiti. He wrote in my book, “I hope you never lose your drive to better the world.” Six years later, a medical student, I would never have thought I’d be sitting next to him having dinner telling him about the public health work I’ve been up to over the last three years. He interrupted me twice, put down his fork, folded up his napkin and shook my hand, congratulating me on what I’ve accomplished thus far. When I told him about raising $250,000 during my year in Haiti and getting jetBlue to sponsor my flights to the Dominican Republic, he was shocked and told me that he couldn’t have done at my age what I’ve been able to do. While he was being very modest, I was touched by that and my heart was immediately filled with a renewed drive to continue in my passion for Haiti.
We talked about my public health training program and the struggle of balancing med school curriculum and my trips back to Haiti every few months. He paused to think of what advice he could give me and told me to weigh my priorities. He told me to go the Dean of Medicine and tell him what I’m doing and why it’s important. “Tell Ed I sent you,” he told me. “Just be careful not to ask for more than what they can give you,” he warned me. We talked about how med school is pretty much the same routine for everyone and that it’s important to get through it., even when it doesn’t always seem relevant to what I’m doing or what I want to do with my medical degree. He told me not to worry about honors, but to do well on the boards and if I need to pack up and leave for Haiti (fake an illness) and miss a few classes, that I be sure to make some flash cards and study at every opportunity I get. “When your bus breaks down in Haiti, pull out your flashcards and study, study, study,” he told me.
Last night was my first time meeting Wyclef and Edwidge Danticat. Edwidge is a beautiful, powerfully spoken woman who commands an audience with every word that leaves her mouth. Her books are inspirational, mind-boggling and heart-breaking. It was an honor to be in the presence of such an incredible writer and woman. Wyclef on the other hand, had a very different aura to him. He walked in and introduced himself to me as “Hello, I am Wyclef.” I wanted to say “Of course you are!” but instead, I said, “Hi, I’m Will.” Throughout the night, Dr. Farmer who was sitting next to me and Ruth Simmons who was across from me kept leaning over to me to tell me how great of a mind Wyclef had. President Simmons even stood to give a speech on how brilliant of a man Wyclef was. Before last night, I was only a fan of the music artist Wyclef and definitely not a fan of his involvement in Haitian politics, but now, I am even more a fan of the music artist Wyclef and even less a fan of his political involvement in Haiti. While Dr. Farmer kept reassuring me that Wyclef was a musical genius, he never once commented on Wyclef’s ability to succeed in politics. After the dinner, I spoke to a friend of mine about how confused I had been about what to believe concerning Wyclef. Two people who I admire greatly, Ruth Simmons and Paul Farmer, had repeatedly told me how brilliant of a man he was that I had began to believe it myself. Not to say that he isn’t an incredible artist, I was taken aback by the fact that two power house figures would be such great supporters of a man who has repeatedly embarrassed himself and his country in the eyes of the media over the last few months. Then it hit me. While Paul Farmer is an incredible doctor and Ruth Simmons is the best president Brown has ever had, they are both unbelievably successful at what they do because they are indeed incredibly talented politicians. While Wyclef may not be much of a politician, he is a Haitian, grammy award winning music artist who has an enormous fan base. That alone is all it takes to make friends in high places.
