Rooting For Roona

What are you doing to ensure every child in born in his country has a fair shot at life? What would you do if you came across the story of Roona?

A documentary film maker and her crew form Bangalore have done something and that something is truly incredible and proof of how much can come out of one ordinary citizen wanting to cause change. Also, this is just the beginning of all that they plan to do. Pavitra Chalam and her team at Curly Street Media came across the story of baby Roona who was born in a tiny village in the state of Tripura with a birth defect known as hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus causes a build up of fluid in the brain which leads to progressive enlargement of the head, mental disability, convulsions and could possibly end in death.

The picture of the almost alien like baby and the story of the plight of her laborer parents who live a hand to mouth existence, stirred something in the team and they began their campaign ‘Rooting For Roona.’ Roona’s story had gotten the attention of the press and a Norwegian crowdfunding was in full swing for her treatment. Pavitra and her team, during their research on Roona’s condition found out that it was not entirely uncommon, this set them on a new path, to bring attention to the flaws in India’s healthcare system and Roona would be their champion.

The Curly Street Media team met with Roona and her parents as she underwent the first round of surgery in a private hospital in Delhi. They have hours of footage of Roona, her parents, the doctors and NGO’s and activists who are working towards healthcare for babies born with congenital diseases in India. Rooting For Roona will be a documentary that will help shape public opinion about healthcare and help push for much needed reforms in the child health space. Recognising that they could not do this alone, the team launched a crowdfunding initiative to meet the production costs that making the film will require.

The campaign goes live in July and Pavitra leveraged the connected world we live in and appealed to friends and well wishers who in turn spread the message across social media channels. Almost two months after The Rooting for Roona Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign ended and has raised USD 32,001. It is officially the largest non-fiction film to be crowdfunded from India.

As baby Roona goes in and out of multiple surgeries and Pavitra begins pulling her documentary together we need to all take a moment and ask ourselves what we can do to make a difference. It need not be monumental or news worthy, but some action to help our fellow citizens must happen, it could be in the form of something as easy to do as vote.