BECOMING FAMILY

Six months after a tsunami hit South Asia on December 26, 2004, Muslim-American and Sri Lankan born Dr. M. Rahmi Mowjood led a team of American doctors and medical students on a tsunami relief trip to Sri Lanka. While mentoring medical students and aiding injured villagers, Dr. Mowjood also finds a way to ask someone to become a member of his own family.

Shot on location in the southern villages of Sri Lanka, the film features original music by Don Bodin, won the 2007 Top Applause Award at the International Family Film Festival, and features doctors, students, and Sri Lanka philanthropist Kushil Gunasekera.

Run time: 74 minutes

I hope this film communicates the emotional impact that a relief trip like this has on its participants, and I hope viewers walk away seeing how we can all do our part to make the world a better place – that it's not scary to take action but wonderful and rewarding. Many of the students have plans to do more relief work in the future and are motivated because they’ve learned that it's not just about being proud of one past moment, it's about continuing to give, learn, grow, connect, inspire, and strive for present and future moments.

We are, after all, members of the same important global family.