A Story to Tell

During a short-term trip to South Asia, volunteer photojournalist Natasha Schmale began to view the suffering people around her in a whole new light.

I leaned my head out the window of the moving van as far as I could, trying to steady my camera. The driver of the van swerved to miss loaded buses, school children, cattle herders, rickshaws and farmers as we travelled down a narrow road in South Asia. It was both thrilling and frustrating. All around me were vibrant green rice fields dotted with farmers, and open-air markets busy with vendors and customers. It was a scene of vibrant colours. But it was all speeding past, leaving many of my photos blurry.

But, beyond the colour, there were glimpses of pain and darkness.

Farmers, swindled out of their farms by land-grabbers, were now forced to drive rickshaws. They often pulled loads much too large for their one-gear bicycles and skinny limbs. It was a small glimpse into a world of pain and exploitation.

In the cities, the eerie sounds from loudspeakers of people praying before sunrise was a constant reminder of the millions who were trying desperately to earn their salvation, yet never having any assurance that they had achieved it.

I had heard stories of ethnic tension, injustice, flooding, poverty, hopelessness and persecution. But it was difficult to wrap my mind around these realities, and still harder to capture it on camera. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. But how many pictures does it take to show reality?

I followed the North American Vision Trip team to South Asia to photograph their firsthand experiences of what Bible translation and literacy work looks like. And I felt unfit for the task. How could I capture the struggles the people in South Asia faced daily and the impact it had on the hearts of the team members in only a few pictures? The stories were overwhelming.

After spending a number of days in the city, we travelled to a remote area in South Asia, inhabited by more than a million people. Half of them belonged to a mix of minority people groups faced with ongoing political and ethnic tension. As one of the missionaries said, we would be visiting the lost sheep in Jesus’ parable—“the poorest of the poor, the lost of the lost.”

When we arrived at a small tribal church, we were warmly greeted by the congregation, welcomed into their small church and given honoured seats in front of the congregation—seats that quickly felt unnatural.

The pastor introduced us to his congregation, then told story after story of the struggles the believers had faced: the burning of their church by the Buddhist community; families forced to flee their homes repeatedly; and a man who had to flee from his family just to be baptized. Then, one by one, these people stood up and introduced themselves. Suddenly persecution and honour and blessing had a face, several faces.

I felt ashamed to be sitting in their seats in front of the congregation. I had no reason to be in this place of honour—they did.

As I considered these believers, my excuses for not being bold in my faith back in Canada suddenly had no merit. My fear of being laughed at for believing in God would have been laughable if not so shaming. Did I not believe in an all-powerful God? Could I not trust Him as these South Asian believers did?

While photographing the congregation and my team members interacting with them, I realized that these people were the ones who had a story to tell. Their story is the message that the God they serve is bigger than anything they would ever face.

Seeing these Christians seated on the floor of their rebuilt church—leaning over their Bibles, eager to soak up God’s Word—proved that despite the stories of darkness, poverty and persecution, there was another story: a story of hope; a story of a Love so great He was willing to die; a story of the gift of salvation; and of a God whose sovereignty, mercy and grace are matchless.

A story I now had the responsibility to tell. But not just to tell—to live.

Natasha Schmale serves as a volunteer photojournalist with Wycliffe Canada.