Where There is No Doctor

When we first decided to volunteer for Sukhapaab, I had a brief conversation with Susan Reba McIntyre ("Reba"), who is the Executive Director of Health Leadership International and Sukhapaab, about what might be involved in publishing for our first trip this coming November. She asked if I was familiar with Where There is No Doctor, published by the Hesperian Foundation. I was not. After I got off the phone with Reba, Disty, who was familiar with the book, produced a copy from Andy's library. Of course.

I later learned that, according to Wikipedia, "Where There is No Doctor is the most widely used health education book in tropical and sub-tropical developing countries. Based on David Werner's experiences at his Project Piaxtla in western Mexico, it was originally written in Spanish as Donde No Hay Doctor. It has since been revised and has sold over one million copies and been translated into over 100 languages."

Reba then sent me a Lao translation of the book, along with a Lao translation of Where Women Have No Doctor, also published by the Hesperian Foundation. The Lao translation was produced by the Mennonite Central Committee in Vientiane, capital of Laos. The texts were typed with a Lao typewriter. She told me that these were the essential materials they had used and would like to use in our upcoming November Lao training program. Furthermore, she sent, along with the books, cds of the books in pdf (they were typed with Lao typewriters, so no digital keystrokes were captured), Lao fonts, and miscellaneous other useful information. My role with Sukhapaab would be to figure out how to print and publish these in various forms. And in the process, create meaning for myself, Sukhapaab and, most importantly, the Lao people.