Charlotte Metcalf has made documentary films all over Africa, and her director's eye for unforgettable people, location and attention to detail now transfers vividly to the printed page. We feel the heat, smell the smells, and sweat with Charlotte as she battles against bureaucratic inertia and incompetence, hostility and political pressure to record the often unwelcome truth. Charlotte's journal, like her award-winning films, is a close-up of Africa's deep-rooted problems from survival issues like AIDS, famine and cholera, to the unspeakable and ritual maltreatment of women. She presents a moving picture of African heroism in the face of the kind of suffering we would all prefer to walk away from but know we no longer can. This is a book for anyone who cares about the human condition.