Why I'm Going.

In 2003, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (more commonly known as the CPA) was signed between the Islamic Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement. The agreement granted the Southern Sudanese a degree of independence from the primarily Muslim regime in Khartoum, the nation's capitol, and a semblance of peace from the twenty years of violence. Throughout the past 20 years, Sudan's spiritual, political, and cultural climates have been in a severe state of unrest, and even now violence and persecution still exist throughout Sudan. As a result of the civil war, numerous rebel factions and ethnic cleansing efforts have divided north from south, forcing mass quantities of Sudanese natives into the south of Sudan and across the border and into northernwestern Kenya - even east into Ethiopia. Millions have been displaced. The Christian body of believers has experienced many levels of persecution as a result of this conflict, both direct and indirect.

I'm going because I am interested in seeing first hand what the condition of the Church is like in a situation of such hardship. Much coverage has been given to the general story of displacement over the past several years, but my goal is to document the condition of the persecuted Church in Southern Sudan and northwestern Kenya through the lives of its believers and church leaders. I will be covering the mass displacement because it so inherently tied to the condition of the people here, but my goal is to dig a little deeper to lay my finger on the spiritual pulse of this region to capture it in its most raw form.

Media, when done well, has the power to change things. I believe we have a collective responsibility to at least peer into the lives of those not like us and to let the reality of their lives sink into our own. When that happens, I think there is power to change government policies as well as people’s hearts. This is where the role of the communicator comes in so strongly. There is a place where a passion for creating media meets a global need. It is in showing things – pointing a finger at the people and the stories worthy of humanity's attention and demanding that attention be paid.