Just the Facts Jack

On the last day of the DTMH course the course director had a feedback session. Routinely and yearly he has discovered it necessary to determine if any particular area of the world has been offended by any of the presentations. Commonly those from Africa and the U.S. experience some difficulties for different reasons.
The DTMH is African-centric with no apologies on the basis of the scale of problems and the experience of the LSHTM faculty. During some of the presentations of the problems presented by HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected diseases in an environment that suffers from poverty, the situation can seem overwhelming. My colleagues from Africa shared mixed feelings of sadness, shame and frustration during these presentations. Some expressed that the picture presented left a skewed impression with those not first-hand experienced with their countries.
My take home message was that a presentation of facts is never simply a presentation of facts. There are other messages delivered with one's choice of "facts", methods of presenting the "facts" and messenger of the "facts".
It generates within me a profound sense of caution as I begin the process of sharing the "facts" of my experiences along with my subjective impressions. Nevertheless the story is worth telling, thus this blog. But I have been thinking about the message delivered with the story and I want to be as intentional with that message as I am with the story. So I need a bit more time to think about what I want to say about my first trip to Mwanza and why I want to say it.