While writing about the victims of tsunamis, earthquakes, famines, and – worst of all – civil wars, frustration and discouragement must sometimes be close to the surface. But as hard as it must be to write a book about human suffering, authors of such works for young people need to be impelled by a sense of hope.

In this admirable book about the aid agency Doctors Without Borders – called in Canada by its French name, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) – David Morley presents a clear, realistic picture of people working under extremely difficult circumstances to provide medical and other help where it is most desperately needed. While he does sometimes express annoyance – for example, with the bureaucracies of other agencies that are supposed to be helping, or with the inefficiency and corruption of the health system in Congo – Morley keeps his focus on what can be done, and has been done, to alleviate suffering. The book is inevitably disturbing, but it is not depressing. Indeed, with its emphasis on helping people to help themselves, it is a positive and hopeful story.

Black-and-white photos from the field suit the book’s matter-of-fact tone in its descriptions of danger, grief, and heroism. Some of the photos, especially a few of emaciated children, are hard to look at, but many others are positive images – for example, beaming faces in clinics, and aid workers wading across a river with boxes of medical supplies held over their heads.

Morley, who has done humanitarian work for 25 years and was executive-director of MSF for seven years, writes about medical needs but also about the natural beauty of some areas he works in, and the warmth and determination of the local people. This book contains excerpts from his journals on missions in Guatemala, Congo, and Zambia, and also includes brief stories from other MSF volunteers. Although Morley doesn’t prosyletize, and his writing is not particularly gripping, Healing Our World is an inspiring book that could well change the lives of some readers.