Let's figure out where we're going, what we're doing...

I have clawed my way out of the deep, dark abyss that was my first editing session. I can rub my eyes and see the sun shine on another glorious Kampala day. I have just finished a short that we will submit to festivals – I am proud of it, but it has made me wonder what we need in order to finish this project and how to schedule our rapidly dwindling time in Africa.

It was a whim that brought us here, and a whim that led us to the DDT issue. Dumb luck, providence and a little help from our friends allowed us to blindly wander into a story that continues to develop new complexities every day. The problem is, I don’t know how we are supposed to tell it.

So here I sit in Kampala, confused, knowing full well that Uganda has become a battleground on this DDT issue, but wondering how to convey these amazing events to our friends stateside.

Let's work this out together: Are we making a film on the malaria problem as a whole? Hmmm. I used to think so, but, if so, then it is far bigger than what we can do. Our footage doesn’t come close to doing it justice. Furthermore, it is not really a story. Terrible, yes. Heartbreaking, absolutely. But where is the arc? Plus, we'd actually have to see some malaria for that to work.

So, then, are we making a film on the DDT debate? It is certainly timely, but it is a huge, ranging story as well. I don’t know if we can tell it, but it definitely has a beginning, middle, and, perhaps, an end.

We had planned to go to South Africa, a country touted as the example of how to run a malaria control program using DDT. However, we have learned that their spraying initiative has already taken place for the year. We cannot see the sprayers in action; we are too late. Ditto for Zambia and Tanzania, countries that have been spraying DDT in recent years. So that is out.

We looked into vaccine research. They are doing very cool things on this front in Mozambique, Ghana and the US. But there is no hope for a workable vaccine before 2015. This ensures that the DDT debate is not going away any time soon.

It might be easier to focus the story on the Ugandan experience with DDT and the problems they have faced (lord knows, there are many!), but does that really encompass the scope of the issue? Will people care about Uganda? Focusing on the DDT debate in Uganda would allow us to show: elements of the malaria problem – it kills millions; the economics – DDT threatens trade markets; the compassion - what does trade matter when 320 die every day?; then the worrying environmental effects; the unknown health risks; governmental corruption; worldwide ramifications.

But I still worry about the scope. The story is bigger than Uganda, and I want to convey that fact. This is a story that needs a global perspective; a counter-example and a larger conflict

But luck smiles us again: The good folks of Rwanda have thrown us a bone by announcing a thorough and resounding “NO!” to DDT. They say they can control malaria with alternatives that won’t threaten the health, environment or trade of Rwanda. Well, that’s something. That’s a counter-example. Now we have a conflict. Now we have a story, and we’re going to Rwanda.

It’s alright, Ma, it’s just Rwanda.