Daru, a tiny island just off the southern coast of Papua New
Guinea, has an extraordinary story to tell. It It has one of the highest rates
of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in the world.
In July 2018, I spent some time on Daru alongside my frequent
collaborator and partner in storytelling, Alana Holmberg, to gather a bunch of
stories on the response to TB on Daru. The trip itself defied my expectations:
I went to Daru expecting a week of sad, depressing stories, and yet while they
were certainly there – I left deeply impressed by the efficiency and community-led
nature of the response, and the love and care of the whole team involved in the
response. They are there working day and night to address “Ebola with wings” –
and they’re doing an amazing job.
The work we’ve produced from Daru includes a short doco, a 360° VR pieceand other video stories (all
edited and animated by the wonderful Ingrid Brooker), as
well as a plethora of photos, social media content, blog content and other stuff.