The Promise
How far would you go to save a child's life?
Summit Storyteller exists to tell heartfelt stories with compassionate curiosity. The Fort Wayne, Indiana-based company was started by award-winning documentary filmmaker and multimedia journalist Adam Widener. In his first documentary film, The Promise, Widener explores the journey of two African kids brought to northeast Indiana for medical treatment before they're sent back home.
When Joel was eight, he was herding cattle on his bike in Burkina Faso. He fell off, broke his knee cap, and lived with it untreated for two years. He could hardly walk and had to quit school.
As a three-year-old Ugandan girl, Vanessa had such severe swelling of blood in her lips, she could have bled to death with the smallest cut. Her family struggles receiving treatment, because their community thought the little girl was cursed.
Randomly miraculous events connect these children to a Fort Wayne-based organization. The kids are linked to American doctors and families who sacrifice their time, money, and talent in the hopes of healing them through medical treatments and love. The constant struggle for the host families is knowing they have to give the kids back to a third-world country -- which brings revelations of culture, community, and what is truly best for the kids.
