Dr. Dan Murphy is my second cousin. (Our grandmothers were sisters.) Dan grew up in northern Iowa and became a doctor there. He worked in the Peace Corp in Mozambique and was a doctor to Caesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers. Like me, he was a war resister. But since 1999 he has been in a small country, Timor-Leste, helping every person there, free of charge. His clinic is called Bairo Pite Clinic. It is in the capital city, Dili. Timor-Leste is one of the poorest countries on earth. It won it’s independence after a bloody war with Indonesia. Dr. Dan was there through it all.
In 2016, Charlotte and I bought as much Tamoxifen as we could find and afford. The anti-cancer drug is impossible to get in Timor-Leste. We traveled to Los Angeles, then Tokyo, then Singapore, then Bali and on to Timor-Leste, just north of Australia. We delivered the medicine and stayed and volunteered for a week.
Doctor Dan let us record some of his interactions with patients and told some of his story in between. We think they are quite moving and show a man deeply immersed in relieving suffering in the most effective way possible. I hope you will watch and then support the clinic. Thank you.
On April 14, 2020 Dr. Dan passed away. Apparently he worked all day at his beloved clinic in Dili and came home saying he did not feel well. He had some trouble breathing and just died.