`I make it up the aircraft steps in a trance. I stow the precious bag with its illicit contents in the overhead locker. I sit down, sweating, & wait. The doors close, & for the first time I start to feel safe. Then the Captain announces a short delay. The doors re-open & four armed soldiers come down the aisle, peering closely at everyone as they move steadily towards me. I feel sick. I shut my eyes & hear my heart pounding. Never again will I film without permission in a police state.` Charlotte Metcalf has made documentary films all over Africa, & her director`s eye for unforgettable people, location & telling detail now transfers vividly to the printed page. We feel the heat, smell the smells, & sweat with Charlotte as she battles against bureaucratic inertia & incompetence, hostility & political pressure to record the often unwelcome truth. Charlotte`s journal, like her award-winning films, is a close-up of Africa`s massive problems, from survival issues like AIDS, famine & cholera, to the unspeakable & ritual maltreatment of women. She gives us too 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.