As Albert Camus wrote, the doctor's role is as a witness-to witness authentically the reality of humanity, and to speak out against the horrors of political inaction. . . . The only crime equaling inhumanity is the crime of indifference, silence, and forgetting. --James Orbinski In 1988, James Orbinski, then a medical student in his twenties, embarked on a year-long research trip to Rwanda, a trip that would change who he would be as a doctor and as a man. Investigating the conditions of pediatric AIDS in Rwanda, James ...
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As Albert Camus wrote, the doctor's role is as a witness-to witness authentically the reality of humanity, and to speak out against the horrors of political inaction. . . . The only crime equaling inhumanity is the crime of indifference, silence, and forgetting. --James Orbinski In 1988, James Orbinski, then a medical student in his twenties, embarked on a year-long research trip to Rwanda, a trip that would change who he would be as a doctor and as a man. Investigating the conditions of pediatric AIDS in Rwanda, James confronted widespread pain and suffering, much of it preventable, much of it occasioned by political and economic corruption. Fuelled by the injustice of what he had seen in Rwanda, Orbinski helped establish the Canadian chapter of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders/MSF). As a member of MSF he travelled to Peru during a cholera epidemic, to Somalia during the famine and civil war, and to Jalalabad, Afghanistan. In April 1994, James answered a call from the MSF Amsterdam office. Rwandan government soldiers and armed militias of extremist Hutus had begun systematically to murder Tutsis. While other foreigners were evacuated from Rwanda, Orbinski agreed to serve as Chef de Mission for MSF in Kigali. As Rwanda descended into a hell of civil war and genocide, he and his team worked tirelessly, tending to thousands upon thousands of casualties. In fourteen weeks 800,000 men, women and children were exterminated. Half a million people were injured, and millions were displaced. The Rwandan genocide was Orbinski's undoing. Confronted by indescribable cruelty, he struggled to regain his footing as a doctor, a humanitarian and a man. In the end he chosenot to retreat from the world, but resumed his work with MSF, and was the organization's president when it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. An Imperfect Offering is a deeply personal, deeply political book. With unstinting candor, Orbinski explores the nature of humanitarian action in the twenty-first century, and asserts the fundamental imperative of seeing as human those whose political systems have most brutally failed. He insists that in responding to the suffering of others, we must never lose sight of the dignity of those being helped or deny them the right to act as agents in their own lives. He takes readers on a journey to some of the darkest places of our history but finds there unimaginable acts of courage and empathy. Here he is doctor as witness, recording voices that must be heard around the world; calling on others to meet their responsibility. Ummera, ummera-sha is a Rwandan saying that loosely translated means 'Courage, courage, my friend-find your courage and let it live.' It was said to me by a patient at our hospital in Kigali. She was slightly older than middle aged and had been attacked with machetes, her entire body rationally and systematically mutilated. Her face had been so carefully disfigured that a pattern was obvious in the slashes. I could do little more for her at that moment than stop the bleeding with a few sutures. We were completely overwhelmed. She knew and I knew that there were so many others. She said to me in the clearest voice I have ever heard, Allez, allez. Ummera, ummera-sha-'Go, go. Courage, courage, my friend-find your courage and let it live.' --From An Imperfect Offering
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Add this copy of An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the to cart. $1.99, like new condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Doubleday Canada.
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Add this copy of An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the to cart. $12.99, good condition, Sold by Russell Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Victoria, BC, CANADA, published 2008 by Doubleday Canada.
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Seller's Description:
pp. xi, 431. Contains black and white photographs. Light general shelfwear, previous owner's name inscribed to front pastedown; very good in very good-, slightly worn dustjacket.
Add this copy of An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the to cart. $17.99, very good condition, Sold by A Good Read rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Toronto, ON, CANADA, published 2008 by Doubleday Canada.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good in Very Good dust jacket. 0385660693. Inscribed by author on half-title page. Light rubbing to d/j. Faint smudges to outer edges of text block. A Good Read ships from Toronto and Niagara Falls, NY-customers outside of North America please allow two to three weeks for delivery.; 9.1 X 6.4 X 1.4 inches; 448 pages; Signed by Author.
Add this copy of An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the to cart. $32.98, very good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Doubleday Canada.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good in Very Good, Not Price Clipped jacket. Book. Signed by Author(s) Complete number line from 1 to 10; inscribed by James Orbinski on the half-title page: "For __-with sincere thanks for a print interview, James Orbinsky"; some edge wear to boards and dust jacket; otherwise a solid, clean copy with no marking or underlining; collectible condition; illustrated with black and white photographs.
Add this copy of An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the to cart. $37.91, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Doubleday Canada.