Abilene Christian University has a program called Wildcat Academics on Missions (WAM) in which different academic departments will partner with international organizations who can benefit from their expertise. For example, a group of speech pathologists and nurses traveled to Uganda to help a medical mission. Meanwhile, multimedia majors, like me, are invited to join another department’s trip to document and provide for media needs. Before the trip, all participants are required to take a prerequisite class about ethical and sustainable mission and international relation practices.
I chose to join the group of eight senior engineering students who had spent a year redesigning and improving a water filtration system to install in a small mountain town of rural Nicaragua. During our three week trip, the engineers partnered with Misión Para Cristo to source local material, construct the water filters, and install them in the mountain community.
As the multimedia major, I was tasked with documenting the trip with photos and videos and creating three different deliverables. First of all, the university required that I make a promotional video for the WAM program and the engineering department. They wanted a few minutes to showcase the work and experience of the program. Secondly, I met with the director of Misión Para Cristo to see what media needs the mission had that I could fulfill during my time there. After our discussion, we decided that an updated facility tour video would be most helpful because what they had was low quality and out of date. I created a short video showing the Misión Para Cristo facilities to help the mission attract potential donors, volunteers, and visitors.
Finally, I decided to see if I could make a short personal documentary from the experience that I had there. The documentary is still a work-in-progress because I wasn’t able to find an interesting story that could be turned into a full arc. I don’t want it to be a video journal or a promotional video so I am looking into the possibility of collaborating with other students who went on the same trip but during different years to see if we can create some sort of linear story arc.
Overall, it was a spectacular first trip out of the country. I met a lot of people and was able to have a few conversations in Spanish with native speakers. I would jump at any opportunity to be immersed in Spanish so that I can become more fluent in the language. I hope I get to revisit Misión Para Cristo to check up on all of the friends I made.
