My Face is Eating Me

This extraordinary documentary charts the work of a remarkable team of highly talented British medics making a mercy trip to Ethiopia on behalf of Facing Africa, a charity that gives the poorest people on earth the chance of a new face. Amongst the people desperately needing help is four-year-old America. She is suffering from a ravaging gangrenous flesh eating infection called Noma and needs emergency antibiotics to save her life. Two weeks ago her face was covered in black scabs but now these have gone and it is open to the elements and disappearing fast. We meet America and her family in a hospital in the town of Dessie and follow her story as surgeons attempt to re-build her jaw and create a new flap for her face. It’s a race against time to stem the infection and give her the chance of a future. Sometimes it’s a painful watch, but seeing the help and transformations that this medical team brings about is heart-warming and ultimately life affirming.