AllMovie

Filmmaker Christa Graf offers a sensitive look at the process by which Ugandan mothers who are dying of AIDS prepare their children for the inevitable by assembling books that help to give the soon-to-be orphans a sense of family history. How does a young child maintain a sense of family history when the core of his or her family has died? Each year, millions of Africans succumb to the devastating ravages of AIDS, leaving their orphaned children to struggle for a sense of belonging in an unforgiving world. Recently, many Ugandan mothers suffering from AIDS have began working to ensure that their family roots don't dry up and wither away by creating "Memory Books." Essentially family scrapbooks filled with photos, family stories, and drawings, these "Memory Books" convey the family histories, traditions, and values to the children who sadly won't be able to learn these things from their parents firsthand. To a child with neither parent nor relative to speak of, such a tome is absolutely invaluable. In many cases, the children work with their mothers to create the books, a bonding experience that gently prepares innocent children for their mother's death while simultaneously giving them warm memories that will last a lifetime.