Lay Your Trouble Down

In January 2008 a team of physicians from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York travelled to Liberia in West Africa with a view to developing long-term support in the public health sector there. I accompanied them to document the mission. Within a few days of arriving it became apparent that the situations I was witnessing demonstrated public health care needs that were wanting on a scale unthinkable in the United States. As these public health care needs unfolded before me, I witnessed - and subsequently documented - the development of what has become the first post-civil war women's health care program in the country. From capturing the initial realization a lack of localized women's health care, to administering chemotherapy in a converted storage closet, to the establishment of a comprehensive education and training program designed to assist in perpetuating the work started in 2008, the film follows the story of what can happen when a vision is proposed and taken aboard within the local community to positive and meaningful ends. I believe that the film provides a unique perspective of the development of a successful public health care initiative from its earliest inception. Combined with technical animations demonstrating the problems the local population face, the film offers itself as an objective educational tool for those wishing to pursue similar endeavors. (The version of the film we have initially submitted sees the story ending prior to more recent events. We intend to incorporate footage of these more recent events into the version of the film we wish to show at the festival. If the festival organizers choose to consider us for inclusion, we will re-edit the film up to the current time, subtitle much of the dialogue more extensively, and close-caption the entire documentary.)