Films by Cori Shepherd Stern

2012, 52 min
by Kief Davidson

“Open Heart” is the story of Angelique and Marie who – as will 6 other Rwandan children – leave their families behind and embark on a life-or-death journey to receive high-risk open-heart surgery in Africa’s only free-of-charge, state-of-the-art cardiac hospital, the Salam Centre run by Emergency, an Italian NGO. Their heart valves, damaged and weakened by rheumatic heart disease, which develops from untreated childhood strep throat, leave them lethargic and weak. Some of the children have only