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"The pain of grief is just as much a part of life as the joy of love; it is, perhaps, the price we pay for love; it is the cost of commitment," Colin Parkes and Robert Weiss write in Recovery from Bereavement. There are few tragedies more harrowing or debilitating than the death of a child. Each year more than eight million families around the world experience this nightmare. Grieving demands a special kind of courage and cannot be rushed. Parents must find a new source of hope for the future without slighting the treasured memory of the child who has died.

This difficult process is explored in Motherland, a deeply affecting award-winning documentary directed by Jennifer Steinman. This could be called "a healing adventure" for that is exactly what happens as six American mothers travel 8,000 miles to South Africa on a 17-day journey to live with local families and work with African organizations dedicated to improving the lives of children. Motherland was the winner of this year's Emerging Visions award at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival and Best Documentary at the 2009 California Independent Film Festival.

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