why do I want to do this?
My name is Caleb Pauls. I am 29 years old, from Fresno California. My favorite color is yellow, and I once got bitten by a duck.
I want to begin by thanking you for the love and support you have given to me over the yeas. When I decided to pursue working in the mission field by going on the WorldRace in October 2016, I was generously supported and prayed for by you.
Movies
As some of you may know I picked up a camera throughout my WorldRace experience.
I had no previous experience with film. My undergrad was in Political Science, with an emphasis on Political Theory. I obtained a graduate degree in Public Administration, with an emphasis on Urban Planning.
I enjoyed the theoretical side of politics. The why and how of creating a society where the welfare of the people is preeminent. Politics is the science of individual and societal relations and wellbeing. However, the day to day implications of a political life was slowly draining my soul. (It did not help that I was not on the charismatic side, but the bureaucratic (functional) side)
A series of life events caused me to tailspin. I was forced to ask myself a dangerous question. What do I want? Not, what do other people want me to do, or what should I do according to social obligations, or what is the smart, safe choice. What do I want? What are my passions? Where is my heart guiding me into?
The answers to all those questions lead me to the WorldRace. Creating a video blog of my adventures. Those questions lead me to philosophy, psychology, and storytelling. Leading me to creating over 80 videos over the course of 11 months. It sparked my imagination. It created a love to brainstorm wild ideas and then put them into action. It created a passion to piece together footage to create a story, to compel a feeling.
As the WorldRace began to wind down, I had to take a serious look at myself and ask myself another dangerous question. Where do I want to go? There were only two viable options; go back to school and work towards my doctorate in philosophy, or I could focus on film. With film, I could focus on the same ideas I would want to explore with my doctorate. I would have the ability to explore ideas, to see things first hand, and to bring others along in the process. Not to mention, the film thing felt like a gargantuan risk.
However, I knew I was not ready to strike out on my own into the big bad filmmaking world. I needed some guidance, some tutelage, and I wanted to be a part of creative team who was passionate and focused on telling amazing stories.
Uganda
As my squad was in Bulgaria, on a mini debrief for the weekend, I made up my mind. I was going to pursue this film thing. I did not know where this film thing was taking me, but I wanted to explore this option further. My internal decision was followed by confirmation after confirmation. I was going to follow my heart, get uncomfortable and see where it leads.
In a conversation with my squad mentor, he mentioned Adventures in Missions wants to partner with people who are passionate about living out their dreams. He suggested I begin to hit up Adventures in Missions offices, to see if they had anything planned for the future in the realm of storytelling. So I did.
A few weeks later I was contacted by Joe Barnes, from Adventures in Missions. He had just returned from an AIM (Adventures in Missions) storytelling trip across South East Asia, and he was beginning to build a team to go to Uganda.
I said I was in. I even threw out the idea that I would move to Gainesville, GA (where AIM HQ is located), so I could be a part of pre-production. Not to mention, I wanted to be in an environment where people were making and creating. Doing the things I wanted to do.
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Currently, as of right now, I am living in Gainesville where I am interning with AIM in the video department. I will be here for 4 months till our team launches in January.
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This trip would be 7 weeks long. In that time we would be transplanted into a refugee camp. We would storyboard, shoot, and edit an episodic documentary telling stories of what God is doing.
The aim of the project is to bring relief to the Sudanese through awareness of what is happening on the northern border of Uganda. Our goal is that our production will mobilize a generation to give generously, be physically involved, and help spread the Gospel to a generation of refugees lacking hope and needing the Lord.
South Sudanese Crisis
Yes, we are going to Uganda. However our main focus will be South Sudanese refugees. South Sudan is the world’s newest country. After decades of civil war in Sudan, South Sudan was granted independence in 2011, the year I graduated from undergrad. The peace was short lived. 2 years later the Vice President (who was a different ethnic group then the President) was removed from power, because the President believed he was starting a coup. The Vice President retaliated, and thus civil war broke out, again. The fighting between the two ethnic groups has grown to genocidal proportions.
Conflict in the world’s newest country has spread across the nation, creating a severe humanitarian crisis. South Sudan has the third largest refugee crisis, after Syria and Afghanistan. 3.6 million have fled their homes. 6 out of 10 South Sudanese refugees are children, and Uganda hosts the highest percentage of South Sudanese refugees with 1 million refugees (Mercy Corp, last updated 2017; npr.org) The Washington Post has described this as the worst humanitarian crisis since World War ll.
The refugee settlements host hundreds of thousands of refugees. With new people coming everyday. Individuals, broken families, mothers and sons all looking for a place where they can live in peace. It is the goal of local pastors to help create a self-sustaining environment, where locals and refugees buy-in to creating a better, more abundant life for themselves and their families.
What do I Want?
I remember in the midst of my Master’s program I was learning the basics of urban planning, and how the built environment impacts the economic nature of a place. Then follow the rabbit trail of TED Talks I was consuming, I had the insane idea of going to the hardest place in the world, and helping create a system where people can provide for themselves. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
In my youthful ambition I wanted to save the world. My messiah complex was a bit exacerbated. It was a crazy, harebrained idea.
Here and now, years later, I have an opportunity to go to a place that literally could be described as the hardest place in the world. Where my job would be to tell stories of how God is moving in the midst of chaos, crisis, despair, and desperation.
Storytelling has power. I have tried for a long time to confront people with facts and numbers. I have debated with eloquent strings of words, yet the ability to shift perspective is always out of grasp. Over the last few years I have stopped TELLING people what they should think, or how they might be misguided. Instead I have decided to just live my TRUTH, and let people see the inner workings of my life. I know there is something inside me that is pure, whole, holy and glorious. It echoes throughout my life, and bleeds out onto everyone who hears and sees my story. This is the Spirit of Christ in me, the hope of glory.
All I ever want to do is provide an environment where people can encounter this same presence. A place where people can get a taste of what they are capable of. A place where people can feel their heart again.
Storytelling is about SHOWING not TELLING. Let me invite you on a journey. Let me invite you into an experience where you will come out changed. Let me invite you into awe and wonder. Let me invite you to follow me where you would never have dreamed of going before.
How Can You Help?
This trip is a divinely ordained next step for my life and career path. It fits all my criteria for what I wanted; a team, to be under someone who knows what they are doing, and to have all my fingers into all the processes of filmmaking. It fits my wild dynamic of wanting to see and experience the worst things in the world. This is history happening, right before our eyes, and I get the beautiful opportunity to see it first hand.
But this process is not just for me, it is for all of you as well. It is also for those who live in these settlements. Our team is seeking to build a platform for engagement with churches worldwide to end this crisis.
We, as the Church, are a body. We may come from different backgrounds, different beliefs, different skin tones, and different countries of origin but we are still one big family.
We are not going to solve a problem, we are going to document what God is already doing. We are going to tell stories about amazing people doing incredible things. We are going to capture God’s goodness through the raw form of his children.
In order to do all of this, I am required to fundraise $7000+. This is why I am asking for your support. I know this is a steep price, but counter to popular belief Africa is not cheap.
Because of the gear and equipment we will use throughout this process we need secure transportation and living situations. Also, to get where we are going is no easy task. The price of this trip is so steep because of the gravity of the situation we are walking into.
I have invested heavily into this project myself. I sold my car to move to Georgia. I purchased a new camera, and there are several other material needs besides overall trip cost that I still need. I will work as hard as I can, but my work is not enough.
I ask that you and your family prayerfully consider supporting Adventures in Missions and the work I am doing there as I continue pursuing the journey that Papa has set before me. If you decide to give your support and partner with me in this dream, the easiest way is to donate online at http://calebpauls.kingdomjourneys.org/. Also please consider keeping me in your prayers. This project feels like more then I can chew. I do not feel equipped to complete a trip like this. I am learning, almost daily, more and more about dependence on the Almighty.
You can also subscribe to my new blog, http://calebpauls.kingdomjourneys.org/
There I will write blogs about my process. I will post videos I make myself. I will include you on every step of the way.
My journey is not solely for me. This is a shared experience. Come share with me.
If you have any questions about me, this process, this journey, or just wanna chat you can email me: [email protected]
Thank you for your prayers and support.
Your Friend,
Caleb Pauls
