Filming with FAME

Karatu, Northern Tanzania - March 2022:

Some of the wonderful doctors, nurses and staff at the FAME medical hospital in Karatu, northern Tanzania. Documenting, whether in film or photographs, a hospital is never easy as you will always be in the way, no matter how hard you try to disappear into the walls and keep eyes wide open for any sudden emergency. Life there goes on at its own unique speed, and there can be no requesting a quick “take 2” or a second interview. You’re on the run and catching what you can, when you can, whilst quickly needing to identify the pace and urgency of each ward, each room, surgery and area and be utterly respectful of all that goes on inside it.

Working with the hospital - to create a short video documentary to show how this remarkable place has grown from a small mobile clinic to a busy, vibrant hospital - was a dream assignment for writer and co-producer Anthea Rowan and I.

Their story is well-known not just here in Tanzania, but also around the world and our job was to focus on what’s ahead and where FAME sees itself over the coming years; its aims and ideas and the steps it will take to become bigger and better, all the while looking inwards to support its own people, as well as outwards to the surrounding communities it serves.

With huge thanks to everyone we met there and the welcome and support which made our job so much easier and left us truly impressed with the level of their professionalism and dedication.

Watch the film here and to find out more about the amazing work that FAME does and visit their website at www.fameafrica.org.