A Poem Read to Paul Farmer (Video)

A medical student at the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda reads a poem she wrote to Paul Farmer, the day before he died.

By Joselyne Nzisabira

On February 20, 2022, the day before Paul Farmer died, Joselyne Nzisabira, a medical student at the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda, read to Paul a poem she wrote for him.

We are honored to share Joselyne’s poem to Paul and the video of her reading the poem to him and his comments to her.

For Dr. Paul Farmer:

Hello Dr. Paul, 

Or can I say Doctor Humble?

Since that is what your name means

But it's not even different from who you truly are

Because you have a golden heart

We want to thank you for being a humanitarian before being a doctor

And choosing to be a health activist in a world full of inequities

And challenging the systems irrespective of how long they have been existing

Putting your patients in your tight schedulers

And inspiring each and every one of us

To be better future doctors

We want to thank you for enhancing the value of the 5s

Being the space, stuff, staff, social support, and systems

We were grateful for the morning report inputs

And the bedside teaching full of  patient-centered highlights

To the best of all, we thank you for supporting patients equitably

And being Paul every day!

Hopefully, this won't be the last time we are meeting

We love you, Dr. Paul,

Together we wish you 

 "Akazi keza"!

 [‘Akazi keza’ was Dr. Paul’s favorite statement in Kinyarwanda. It means ‘good job’ or ‘Enjoy your job’]

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Joselyne Nzisabira, who uses the pen name TheMedPoetess, is a Rwandan female medical student, currently pursuing her MBBS/MGHD degree at the University of Global Health Equity. Joselyne is passionate about global surgery, health equity, mental health, and literature.