When should a journalist get involved in the story?

The next day, as she recounted on BBC Radio 4's From Our Own Correspondent, she returned to the same place and found the baby had been seen by a doctor. She felt "boosted by the thought I had helped someone, perhaps even played a part in saving a life".

So when should a journalist stop work in order to do what any decent human being would do? 

It's an everyday dilemma for director/cameraman Jezza Neumann.

His Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children, on BBC2 last week (first shown on BBC4 in April), is an extraordinary 90-minute exploration of the lives of several African children living on the very edge - in danger of starvation, in need of shelter, and under the threat of AIDS infection and being beaten up by the police.

Heartbreaking scenes in the film include an interview with nine-year-old Esther who finds herself responsible for her baby sister and her mother who is dying of AIDS. Esther says she has told her mother that "if she dies, I will get into the grave with her".

Then there is Gogo, who has to plead for her grandson, Obert, 13, to be allowed to stay at school, and is in despair after being told that she needs 50 cents for the term's fees. "Where can I get it from?" she asks, "There is nowhere. Hope is lost."

Watching the film, one can't help wondering how the production team decided between maintaining a professional distance to capture the story and helping their subjects - at the risk of altering the very events they were trying to record.

I called Jezza Neumann (below) to ask how he dealt with these questions, and how he now handles the responsibility for distributing the money viewers sent in, unsolicited, to help the children in the film:

Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children was produced and reported by Xoliswa Sithole, through True Vision, a London-based production company which has won a crowded shelf of awards for its eye-opening films, and has, as company policy, a commitment to "shining light into the darkness and unleashing forces for change at government, charitable and private level".

The website for the programme, run by the charitable arm of True Vision, is updated with news of the contributors to the film - including, a few days ago, word that Obert has passed his exam to a boarding school, changing his prospects entirely from those of the desperate, hungry boy seen in the film.

Incidentally, Jill McGivering revealed the limits of her willingness to intervene at the end of her report about baby Samina:

"As I walked away from Samina's family, someone tugged at my sleeve.

She led me to a tent nearby where another young woman had just given birth, a day or two earlier.

Her relatives lifted a cover to show a tiny, wrinkled newborn.

The women turned to me, eager and expectant, as if they were thinking now this foreigner will help our child too.

They looked disappointed when all I could do was to say thank you, congratulate them and then turn to leave."