Interplast Fiji, Suva 2019 Day 3

Day 3 has been amazing. Seeing the life changing results the team was able to achieve was mind blowing. See the smiles and joy on the patient and parents faces was unlike anything I’ve seen before in my 26 years as a photographer. Being part of the team and capturing these stories is very rewarding. I am really in awe of the skills of the surgical, physiotherapy, and speech therapy teams. Any difference I can make by sharing these stories will lead to some massive changes for those patients, their families, and their communities. Every $1000 that I can help raise will give a child a life changing procedure.

To be honest I think I’ve become a little addicted to this type of work. I really love the feeling being part of a team, and capturing these stories. Saying yes to this project feels like a new direction for my story telling skills. I’m a great believer in doing what you can when you can. To be honest it’s also be great to push my skills, and film making abilities in tough conditions.

A LITTLE ABOUT INTERPLAST

Interplast sends teams of volunteer plastic and reconstructive surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and allied health professionals to provide life-changing surgery and medical training in 17 countries across the Asia Pacific region.

We do this in partnership with local organisations, including hospitals, universities and local NGOs. Our mission is to ‘repair bodies and rebuild lives’ and we do this through providing surgical services to those who could not otherwise afford or access these, and by building the capacity of local medical systems through our training and mentoring programs.

Interplast is a fully accredited NGO with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), registered by the Australian Charities and Not For Profit Commission and is a signatory to the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) Code of Conduct.

ROTARY

Rotary is a key part of the Interplast story. It has been a key fundraiser for the cause, and it’s work, more details from Rotary here https://rotary9930.org/page/international-interplast

OUR DOCUMENTARY - What we’re trying to do.

I’m not a doctor that’s for sure, but I can help. Telling these engaging stories is powerful way of communicating with those who really want to make a tangible difference. That’s where I can add some value as a documentary maker. Telling stories for those who aren’t able to tell their own can really create impact for Interplast, and ultimately help them reach more children and people in need of their services. We are aiming to produce a 1 hour documentary following the journey of a surgical team and a patient and their family. SBS Australia has a great opportunity for community stories to be broadcast. This is a fantastic vehicle to reach as many people as possible. We’ll also create a bunch of promotional videos for social media and website use.

Subscribe to keep up-to-date with this project, and more importantly share our story with friends and family.

OUR SPONSORS

This project wouldn’t be possible without the help of our sponsors!

Canon Professional Services and Tom Duncan have been amazing in providing a Canon C200 and lens package to capture the beautiful imagery and interviews. I have really enjoyed using it with this first stage of filming in Suva.

Rothbury Insurance and Ashley Hodges stepped up and created a wonderful package for covering the gear that I took with me on this trip. It certainly gave me a bit of relief to know that I’d have some protection if something went wrong.

SolidPod also helped out by providing it’s MSata unit to record and capture the footage on a very reliable and rugged unit that takes MSata SDD card. For any cinematographers shooting on a CFast card camera this is a fantastic solution that saves on the $$$ and works a treat.