How to talk about missions?

Every mission is not only about medical assistance, but also about meeting people, their stories and their daily challenges. Often we meet them in hard times, in illness, with a stressful examination or procedure. Creating a doctor-patient relationship is an extraordinary challenge. Therefore, it is extremely important to approach this relationship with appropriate respect and sensitivity.

Back home, we publish stories and reports on our activities. During the events and collections we organise, we tell the story of a familiar slice of Tanzania, Uganda or Rwanda. Our aim is not to seek sensationalism or increase coverage at any cost, but to present the situation authentically, while respecting the dignity of the people we meet along the way.

In this article, we would like to share the principles we try to follow in creating material from our missions - from the choice of photos, to the descriptions, to the way we present the stories of the people we help. We will outline how to build a narrative that is not only reliable, but above all ethical and responsible.

The narrator's challenge

Someone once wrote that when we travel, experience and return to our own country, we become a kind of ambassador for the places and people we have visited. We are often the only testimony about them for our relatives, friends, observers or listeners. This is an incredible honour and a great burden and responsibility. It is worth fulfilling this role to the best of our ability.

Another challenge is that as tourists we go with a set of preconceptions, stereotypes deeply rooted in the culture and often without knowledge of the local language or realities. At our Foundation, we make sure that there is proper education before the mission, but some barriers we cannot jump over. we need to So reflect and look for what we have in common. To look in a very human and fraternal way. To take pictures with respect for the other person, to talk and smile at every step. To hear what people want to say and help them spread that perspective. Because how much about Tanzania have you heard in Swahili, and how much from people who have spent a week on holiday in Zanzibar?

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Our photographic credo

Photography and film are powerful tools to inform, evoke emotion and create empathy. However, as a medical organisation, our primary duty is to protect the privacy, dignity and agency of the patients we care for. The medical principle of 'do no harm' cannot be sidelined when we portray people at their most vulnerable moments, even if it is to raise awareness and funds.

We want to operate according to these principles, stick to informed consent, despite language barriers, and work to ensure that the material we publish above all respects the dignity and integrity of patients, residents and staff. Even if this means taking and publishing photographs less frequently.

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The road to perfection

It seems that a level of perfection is impossible to achieve in this matter. On the other hand, we believe that frequent evaluations, conversations with specialists, training and openness are able to improve the quality of mission relationships and remain in line with our principles. These are complex issues that affect everyone working with us. A real cultural change will take time and commitment at all levels of the organisation, not only among doctors, students and professionals, but also our audiences.