In her 32 years at the Monitor, Melanie Stetson Freeman has worked on assignment in more than 70 countries. She covered 9/11, and ventured into Afghanistan a few years after that. This work was different. Shooting images and video for our forthcoming series on famine was not only challenging logistically but also, in her words, “one of the hardest trips, emotionally, I’ve ever taken.” In Ethiopia she battled a closed-door bureaucracy for access. In Madagascar, an island that much of the world associates with lemurs, she was confronted with widespread child malnutrition. Mel – and the Monitor reporters alongside her – also found hope. Our series begins Monday. This video offers a preview.