(Guest blog from the director of "The Edge of Joy", originally posted on the PBS NewsHour website)

In the time it takes to read this post, somewhere in the world a pregnant woman will have started hemorrhaging and her baby might soon be motherless. One thousand women die every day trying to bring new life into the world, and this toll is what drew me to shoot my documentary film, The Edge of Joy.

I encountered many of the heartbreaking and hopeful stories that underpin this global tragedy, but it was only through the people, the doctors and nurses of Nigeria that I was able to tell them. The roughly one dozen Nigerian doctors and midwives I worked with closely over the course of making the film, didn't push agendas, or act as obstructionists when I asked tough questions or wanted to follow story lines to their natural conclusions.

Nigeria is better known for corruption and oil production than as the vanguard of fighting maternal mortality, but this small close-knit group of men and a handful of women trusted me not to create an indicting portrait of pregnancy and childbirth in their West African country.

Documentary filmmaking is an art, not a science, and at times during the making of this film, the process was challenging. I always kept my questions dignified and did my reproductive health homework so I could ask informed questions in hospitals and in the communities.

Getting permission to film in such sensitive settings requires government approval, a process that Habib Sadauki, the second obstetrician/gynecologist to be trained in the Nigerian state of Kano, helped me through.

After many meetings with the Ministry of Health and a mutual understanding that I would have a "minder" assigned to me while filming in the north, I was given permission to film in tertiary hospitals and primary health centers.

What I didn't know at the time is that the then Minister of Health Babatunde Osotimehin, recently appointed executive director of the UN Population Fund, had approved the access himself. During his tenure as minister, his office approved some ground breaking research about postpartum hemorrhaging.

I caught up with Osotimehin in May of 2009 at a health conference in Los Angeles. Our scheduled time to sit down and talk on camera kept being pushed back, so I made the bold move of taking over the role of the waitress at the café where he was enjoying a coffee.

Handing him a glass of water, I introduced myself as the filmmaker who had been documenting maternal health initiatives in Nigeria. I kept going on and on and he stopped me and said something to the effect of "you are persistent and persuasive just like they say" and with that got up, and came to sit with me for more than an hour.

We discussed safe motherhood, community leadership for better healthcare and, at the conclusion of our interview he shook my hand and said "your access is continued, enjoy your next trip to Nigeria." My field director and I began breaking down the equipment and she asked why I looked dazed. I said I was not even aware our access had to be renewed.

The freedom to shoot in medical settings was crucial to documenting the harsh realities of giving birth in Nigeria. In the film, blood became a ubiquitous character: women were losing too much of it, there wasn't enough of it when you needed it and midwives were always trying to keep it from flowing.

"Hemorrhage requires that you stop the bleeding and you repair the blood loss. If you don't repair (replace) the blood loss the woman will die," Sadauki told me.

We documented a case of severe bleeding where the midwives were able to manage a patient's hemorrhage with a drug and saline until her husband found a pint of blood and she received the transfusion in time to save her life.

And there are new tools on the horizon. A low-tech first aid device, known as the non-pneumatic anti-shock garment, shunts blood out of the extremities and back to the vital organs in cases of hemorrhage. No magic bullet, but a potential game changer for women giving birth in the developing world and new hope for the health care providers.

After I showed this film recently, I was embraced by a woman in the audience who thanked me for saving the world. Locked in a bear hug with a complete stranger, I thought to myself: "Thank you, but no, I'm not saving the world, I just make films about people who are saving the world."

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Dawn Sinclair Shapiro's documentary film, The Edge of Joy, which was featured on PBS NewsHour in April 2011 as a selection of the PBS NewsHour partnership project with The Economist magazine -- the Economist Film Project -- will premiere on independent Link TV on Friday, October 28, at 5 pm ET and Tuesday, November 1, at 8 pm ET, and will stream on Link TV's ViewChange.org beginning on Tuesday, October 25. The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, an international journalism organization, has created an online curriculum that accompanies the film to be distributed to high school educators around the country; educators and others can download the film for free to accompany the curriculum at www.viewchange.org.

A message from Link TV's President & CEO, Paul S. Mason:

Like all of you, I have watched the tragedy of famine as it continues to threaten the lives of millions in the Horn of Africa. I've watched and read the news reports, and I've followed the efforts of humanitarian groups and governments as they supply aid to millions of people in need. And now, as we prepare to recognize World Food Day on October 16, the urgency is particularly acute. The world is in a recession, and extreme weather patterns -- drought and more -- will likely increase. Status quo will not be enough to avert further crises -- we must do better.

In recognition of this global crisis, Link TV has teamed up with international relief and development organization, Oxfam America, to produce a half-hour documentary special that examines possible solutions to famine and hunger around the world:

ViewChange: Africa's Last Famine features the story of an Ethiopian farmer, Medhin Reda, and interviews with Francis Moore Lappé, humanitarian, activist and bestselling author of Diet for a Small Planet. The show takes a hard stance on food justice and disputes the notion that famine is simply caused by a lack of food in the global supply. According to Moore Lappé in the documentary, "the world produces more than enough for all of us to thrive...the real crisis is the crisis of human relationships, how we share in power."

I hope you will join us in watching the show online or on Link TV, in spreading the word to others, and in joining Oxfam America's efforts to end global hunger. Please sign Oxfam's pledge and click here for more information about what you can do.

Sincerely,

Paul S. Mason
President & CEO, Link TV

View online:
OxfamAmerica.org or ViewChange.org

Watch Tuesday, October 18 at 11pm ET/8pm PT
DIRECTV Channel 375 | DISH Network Channel 9410

Follow us @LinkTV
#AfricaLastFamine

I have never looked at a film with as much trepidation as Machine Gun Preacher. The film is based on the true story of Sam Childers, an ex-con and drug addict who went to Africa and experienced a complete transformation. He exchanged his old days of drug addiction and violence to become the impassioned founder of the Angels of East Africa, a rescue organization for children orphaned in Sudan.

I had already known about the unspeakable horrors that families have experienced in Sudan. I had vaguely known about Joseph Kony, the head of the Lord's resistance army (LRA), and how he kidnapped children and then enslaved them. I knew that it would be incredibly painful to see the depiction of children suffering this way and being stripped of their innocence. However, I felt it was my duty as a citizen of the world to see this movie. You bet I was a crying basketcase during this film, but I became a transformed activist as well after the credits rolled.

Sam Childers is a real flawed hero, a larger than life personality that Hollywood scriptwriters can only dream of creating. As an ex-biker-gang member, he found God and made the life-changing decision to go to East Africa to help repair homes destroyed by civil war. He became outraged by the horrific violence faced by the region's vulnerable populace, especially the children. Ignoring the warnings of more experienced aide workers, Sam breaks ground for an orphanage where it's most needed -- in the middle of territory controlled by the brutal LRA, the renegade militia that forces children younger than ten to become soldiers, or sold into sex slavery (which fortunately was not depicted in this film). But Sam not only builds a shelter, he leads armed missions deep into enemy territory to retrieve kidnapped children, restoring peace to their lives. He wields an AK-47 in one hand, and a bible in the other, channeling all of his anger into finding Joseph Kony. That a biker with lambchop sideburns and tattoos could single handedly save over a thousand orphans is an inspiring message that one person could indeed affect positive change.

Actor Gerard Butler gives an intense performance, channeling the intimidating yet empathic Childers. While it is hard to empathize with his unlikable character in the beginning of the film, you transform along with him in his journey toward the end. You see his intensity and passion when he is preaching, even as his Scottish accent is replaced with a very believable Southern drawl. You can feel every bit of anger in the sweat beads on his brow as he pleads with community members to help him with his cause. Equally important to this narrative is his wife Lynn, who patiently and bravely supports him as he sells his business to use the money for the orphanage, flies to Sudan regularly to dangerous missions, and nearly forecloses his home to raise more money for the orphans' food and supplies. Michelle Monaghan was perfectly cast as a woman who appears vulnerable, but has the quiet strength and fortitude to counterbalance Sam's angry and unpredictable outbursts.

Some critics may argue that Machine Gun Preacher relies too much on Sam's boldness and not enough on the character exploration of the children, but I can see the motive. If the job of this film is to embolden people to do more to help the situation in Africa, then the goal has been accomplished. Perhaps the director, Mark Forster, wanted the audience to feel for the children's plight without exploiting them.

Anyone can identify with San Childers, whether wealthy, poor, a victim, a perpetrator, a religious person, or an atheist. If the point is to move people across the board into action to save these children, then I think Machine Gun Preacher does this brilliantly. Of course the children deserve their own narrative, as they are victims of a man that would make Osama Bin Laden look tame in comparison. But they need our immediate help even more. The primary question in my mind after the film was: why don't more Americans know about the so-called Lord's Resistance Army, and the hundreds of thousands of innocent people they have killed for nearly three decades? Why don't they know that this army forces children to hack their own parents with a machete to death in order to instill violence and self hatred in their young hearts... and making it impossible to return home? Why don't they know that this army decapitates the lips, ears, arms and legs of these children and other villagers to punish them?

While I have always been a donor to Unicef, UNRWA, and St Jude's Hospital, this film compelled me to do two things: First, I donated to Sam Childer's cause at Machinegunpreacher.org/donate. Secondly, I decided to register and participate in the Global Forum on Human Trafficking through Notforsalecampaign.org. The primary victims of slavery still alive in this world are women and children from Sudan to Armenia, Thailand to Brazil. Machine Gun Preacher challenges us to take part in this narrative -- through the eyes and experience of fellow American Sam Childers. As I wrote earlier, I was a basketcase after watching this film, but I have now filled my basket with an arsenal of tools to try and make a difference in these innocent lives, the start of my own journey from a Link TV journalist, to an activist.

Link TV Journalist Blanche Shaheen had the opportunity to interview Machine Gun Preacher stars Gerard Butler and Michelle Monaghan about their experience making the film. Watch the conversation here:

To learn more about Blanche Shaheen, visit www.Blanchestudio.com

(Al Jazeera English: 1232 PST, April 11, 2011) If representatives of the African Union were expecting a heroes' welcome in Benghazi, they'd have been very much disappointed as they arrived on Monday morning.

The delegation came to the stronghold of the Libyan Transitional National Council in a bid to begin mediation talks - but was met by crowds of protesters, insisting on Gaddafi's removal from power as a prerequisite to any negotiations with Tripoli. Al Jazeera's Sue Turton reports from Benghazi with a wrap-up of the day's events.

(0830 PST, April 11, 2011) There have been some signs of progress made in Libya towards a possible ceasefire, with Muammar Gaddafi accepting a proposal from the African Union. However, as the plan includes allowing Gaddafi and his family to remain in power, it has been greeted by protests in the opposition strongold of Benghazi.

AU Representatives Mobbed by Protesters in Benghazi

(Al Jazeera English: 0420 PST, April 11, 2011) Representatives from the African Union have been greeted by protesters as they arrived in the northern Libyan city of Benghazi. They are in the opposition stronghold to present their "Road Map to Peace" to the Transitional National Council.

The plan has already received the approval of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli. Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee, reports from the rebel stronghold, where AU leaders found themselves "mobbed by the crowds."

Gaddafi Accepts Roadmap to Peace

(Al Jazeera English: 2239 PST, April 10, 2011) There has been more than a month of fighting in Libya - and at last there appears to be some hope on the horizon. And it has come in the form of the African Union.

A delegation from the organisation, including South African president Jacob Zuma, has visited the capital, Tripoli. And they say Muammar Gaddafi has accepted their road map to peace. Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught reports from Tripoli.