Unfortunately, 800,000 Zambian children have lost one or both parents to AIDS, and others are left to care for themselves because their parents have to work in the fields.**

Severe burns happen frequently because a third of the world still uses open
fires for cooking, heating and/or lighting. Overcrowded living conditions, lack of proper safety measures, loose clothing worn by women and insufficient parental supervision of children are other factors.

Because AIDS takes the lives of so many parents, especially the women who are the main caretakers of children many more children are now suffering burns from open fires.

The story of Mateo represents the typical scenario.  He fell into an open fire while under the care of his slightly older sister.  Actually Mateo was one of the lucky ones, many children go untreated but he received help from Interplast partner Dr. Goran Jovic.

The Forgotten Global Health Crisis from Phil Borges on Vimeo.

I traveled with Dr. Jovic as he flew to remote villages around Zambia in his single engine plane to treat severely burned patients that would otherwise never receive treatment and remain disabled for life. 

Burns comprise half of Interplast surgeries, with 80 percent of them being performed at 12 Interplast Surgical Outreach Centers in nine countries. 

*World Health Organization
**Interplast

Here are a few of the extraordinary women I have had the honor to meet. Women who have broken through a cycle of repression or cultural tradition that limited their well-being and that of their communities— women heroes, remote and mostly unknown, on the leading edge of a global movement toward social and economic justice for women and girls.

Dr. Chandini Perera
Plastic Surgeon

I met Chandini in Sri Lanka while doing a film for the nonprofit organization Interplast. Interplast provides support for the victims of severe burns around the world. Chandini created almost from scratch one the most successful burn centers in Sri Lanka.

When Chandini first started working with burns at the main hospital in Sri Lanka’s capital, she was surprised to find that the majority of her severe burn patients were women. They claimed the burns were accidental. However, as she began to treat these women she could not help but notice that the burns followed a specific pattern.  The burns were typically on the front of the upper body, arms, neck and face. As she slowly gained the confidence of these women they confided to her that they had set fire to themselves. Realizing that these women needed more than just the physical treatment for their burns, she formed a team that included a psychologist, a rehabilitation specialist, and several nurse practitioners.

Chandini told me that 70% of her severe burn patients are the result of self immolation. I didn’t understand it. Why would someone set themselves on fire? It had to be the most painful way to die.

Self Immolation Patient

As I documented Chandini’s work and met some of these women I began to realize that this terrible problem had its roots in women’s social and economic injustices. Self immolation not only happens frequently in Sri Lanka and India but is prevalent in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Kumari, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Here is a multimedia piece about Chandini titled “Postcards from Heaven”.  She is currently working tirelessly to raise awareness and end domestic violence in Sri Lanka.