THE MILE PROJECT

VISUAL STORYTELLING

COMPASS & LIGHT

Professional videography and photography services
that equip nonprofits to educate and inspire.

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VISUAL STORYTELLING

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Professional videography and photography services
that equip nonprofits to educate and inspire.

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FOR NONPROFITS

Story Matters

– WHO WE ARE –

We are a nonprofit organization that provides professional video and photography at affordable prices for charities. Whether a nonprofit is local or global, large or small, a church or a foundation, we exist to help share their stories and further their missions.

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– OUR IMPACT –

500+
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COUNTRIES FILMED

WE WOULD BE HONORED TO HELP TELL YOUR STORY.

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Carlos represents the intersection of art, agricul

Carlos represents the intersection of art, agriculture and history — and through his paintings, he aims to weave these elements together.

Art is in Carlos’ blood — and as a resident of San Juan Comalapa, it’s impossible to avoid. More than 2,000 of the Guatemalan town’s 35,000 people are active painters, and the streets are full of galleries and murals, including the longest mural in the country. The town is a collection of naïve art, a type of folk art created by artists who have never received formal training in painting. Everyday life is the main source of inspiration for this type of art, and in their paintings, artists reflect their observations of the world around them and the history of their homes.

Carlos’ grandfather, the man featured in the mural, was a farmer and an expert in ancestral history — making him an important adviser in the town’s political sphere. Agriculture continues to be a core part of the town’s Kaqchikel Maya identity, and in front of his partially-completed mural, Carlos beams with pride for his grandfather and eagerness to share his heritage.

When Hurricane Earl formed as a Category 1 hurrica

When Hurricane Earl formed as a Category 1 hurricane over the Caribbean in August of 2016, it threatened the small nation of Belize with high winds, torrential rainfall and devastating flooding. It destroyed buildings and homes, including Patricia’s — and it wasn’t until May of 2023 that she could finally move into her new place.

Patricia is a single mother of three living in Belize City’s South Side community. The hurricane flooded her entire neighborhood, forcing Patricia to use a bathtub to navigate through the drowned streets. For years after Earl, Patricia and her children lived in a makeshift house made of plywood and tin on her property — and it wasn’t until a local pastor and community leader partnered with Charlotte-based Young Black Leadership Alliance (YBLA) that she felt the vision of her future home come alive.

YBLA joined the community and local carpenters to help build Patricia a home, and by May, Patricia was holding the key to her new home in her hand.

“I thank God for everybody coming together to build this home for me and my three kids,” Patricia says.

Patricia’s biggest hope for her new house is to be able to host again — to invite her friends and neighbors into the home she had waited almost seven years for.

“You can’t give up, because if you give up you will fall,” Patricia says. “So you have to be strong.”

Customs and traditions work against women in Burun

Customs and traditions work against women in Burundi when they try to gain ownership of their land. However, Burundian women are working to break down those barriers.

In a region of the world where men have traditionally held cultural and legal power, more and more women are working with nonprofits and local government to get their share of land. The majority of landowners in Burundi acquire their land through inheritance, which is often done informally — meaning that men have often been favored as the recipients for land within their families. However, education and collaboration with nonprofits and local administration have helped women receive land certificates that prove their legal ownership over their land.

The culture has started to shift, and in some regions in Burundi, 70% of recognized plots include the names of both spouses on land certificates. Having legal ownership of their land also provides women access to loans, encouraging financial planning within families and economic empowerment in a country looking to move forward.

The sharks and rays off the coast of Guatemala kno

The sharks and rays off the coast of Guatemala know that there are plenty of fish in the sea, but they don’t know that on land, there’s a community of conservationists fighting for their protection.

Based in Guatemala, Fundación Mundo Azul works along the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of Central America to conserve marine resources — specifically populations of sharks and rays. Through research, public policy and environmental education, the nonprofit’s mission is to not only advocate for the conservation of sharks and rays, but also to collaborate with communities through biological monitoring and educational opportunities that teach sustainability throughout generations.

The Fundación Mundo Azul community is more than just its staff — it’s the local scientists they conduct research with, the fishermen they partner with and the children of fishermen they reward with scholarships. The unity among these communities and their shared inspiration from the nonprofit’s motto — to “know, love and conserve” — helps remind those who utilize marine resources that in the end, the world isn’t theirs to take.

“Sometimes you’re only focused on going out to fish today and you don’t think about tomorrow, about the future of our kids,” says Che, a fisherman from the town of El Quetzalito. “If we, as fishermen, don’t take care of what we have, our kids won’t know the species that exist now.”

It's not hard to find Derrick Pitts with a grin — more likely mischievous than not — on his face at any point in the day, but there's something about seeing members of his community in Belize City, Belize that brings him a special type of joy.

Specifically, it's the shoes they're wearing.

When Derrick sees someone sporting black, striped slides in his hometown he knows exactly where they came from. Derrick is dedicated to serving his community through his ministry, God Cares Outreach, by partnering with local leaders to organize neighborhood-based activities that provide for the city's population. Belize City's youth, homeless individuals, orphans and other vulnerable populations receive free food, clothing, hygiene items, toys and shoes from public distributions held by God Cares Outreach.

The black, striped slide is a staple of Derrick's ministry and the impact the team is making throughout the country.

On a shallow lake in northern Burundi, a small isl

On a shallow lake in northern Burundi, a small island is home to approximately 50 families that live a boat ride and a multi-hour drive away from the nearest medical facilities. Most of its residents haven’t received medical care in years, and possibly their whole lives.

In late July, individuals representing three separate ministries visited the residents of Ruyoka Island on Rweru Lake to address their symptoms and provide basic medical treatment. Mission Partners for Christ, a U.S.-based medical mission organization, partnered with Burundi-based Initiatives in Medical Intervention Fellowship (IMIF) and global Calvary Ministries (CAPRO) to spend five days traveling throughout Burundi administering medical care to under-resourced and unreached communities. Villages like that of Ruyoka Island are often isolated from urban communities due to geography and sociocultural differences, and the goal of the mission trip was to provide medical care by distributing medication and vitamins, conducting eye exams and sharing guidelines on how to prevent illnesses to hundreds of rural Burundians.

Over 1,500 individuals were served during the five-day trip, taking home with them medication, new glasses and shoes and new information on how to take preventative measures to keep themselves and their families away from sickness — information that can save lives.

Much like millions of caffeine-dependent people ar

Much like millions of caffeine-dependent people around the world, Elder Giovanni Fayad Ramirez lives off of coffee — but not by drinking it.

He’s a coffee farmer, and he spends his days dedicating all of his attention to tiny and not-yet-tasty coffee beans, guiding them from the plant they grew on to the bags they will be sold in. From depulping and fermentation to washing and drying, Elder accompanies the coffee bean throughout all of its life stages — before it’s poured into a mug.

Watch as Elder walks through the coffee production process on his farm in Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve in eastern Guatemala.

A good story can change someone’s life — but t

A good story can change someone’s life — but to tell a good story, you need more than just words.

We’re looking forward to joining ministries and missionaries in Guatemala for an in-person visual storytelling workshop next week, where our team will go through the basics of visual storytelling. We’ll teach alongside local Guatemalan filmmakers and cover topics including capturing powerful visuals, storytelling on a budget, photo and video editing, understanding trends and how to share an engaging story.

We’re passionate about collaborating with community-focused nonprofits and filmmakers and are looking forward to this opportunity!

Danny O’Neel joined the army when he was 19 year

Danny O’Neel joined the army when he was 19 years old. And even though he left the military 15 years ago, his mind never left Sadr City, Iraq.

“I signed up for the army on 9/11,” Danny says. “I did not know what I was getting myself into … but I knew that I could make an impact.”

In 2006, Sadr City was deemed the deadliest place on Earth. Danny witnessed nine of his fellow soldiers die in combat before returning to the U.S. But while the army trained soldiers on how to go to war, it didn’t train them on how to come home. 14 of his comrades, including his company commander, died by suicide after their return to the U.S. — more than the amount of Danny’s fellow soldiers that died in Iraq.

“I started burying guys who never made 30 and I said, ‘No more. I’m not doing this.’”

During his first few years at home, Danny started experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that were seeping into every part of his life — anger that led to random fights and insomnia that kept him working up to 100 hours a week. Eventually, he wanted to give up. Five and a half years after returning home, Danny attempted suicide — and survived.

“When I woke up and I wasn’t dead — so much like waking up on the battlefield — when you’re not dead, you better get up and fight,” Danny says, “because someone’s gonna probably try and kill you again. And it just might be yourself.”

Danny didn’t think that there was anything about him worth redeeming, but it was the people around him that kept him fighting — and he continues to fight to build bridges between veterans and civilians, raising awareness of the effects of PTSD on soldiers.

Click the link in our bio to watch Compass & Light: PTSD & Trauma and hear Danny’s full story, along with the stories of others who have found hope amidst trauma.

When Defensores de la Naturaleza entered Heidi Jim

When Defensores de la Naturaleza entered Heidi Jimenez's small village in Guatemala, they brought with them experience and expertise they wanted to share with the community. They also brought Heidi a gift she couldn't have imagined: the opportunity for education.

Defensores is a nonprofit dedicated to the conservation and preservation of Guatemala’s natural resources, but a core part of their work is rooted in community education. Heidi comes from a family of farmers who received training and funding from the nonprofit to help with the management of their crops — mainly cacao and pineapple. But Heidi’s parents also decided to use that funding to send her back to school, something they hadn’t been able to afford before.

“It was because of this that I have an education,” Heidi says emotionally. She now has a degree in business administration.

Defensores’ investment in the village of Santa Rosa Balandra has changed the community by teaching them not only how to sustainably manage crops, but also how to market them and sell them to produce companies.

“We feel very satisfied and we feel that we are no longer the same as we were years ago,” Heidi says.

Overfishing has decimated the global shark and ray

Overfishing has decimated the global shark and ray population, and marine ecosystems off the coasts of Guatemala have witnessed a severe decrease among shark and ray species.

This problem is why Fundación Mundo Azul exists.

Shark and ray populations have decreased by over 70% in the past 50 years, and Fundación Mundo Azul is working to reverse that trend by tracking shark and ray populations and advocating for their conservation and protection. Fishermen in coastal communities collaborate with the organization to monitor shark and ray populations, and they serve as marine experts and advocates that promote shark and ray conservation on the ground.

Learn more about their work by visiting @fmundo.azul

Before landing in Belize, Logan Anderson had never

Before landing in Belize, Logan Anderson had never been outside of the country — and the wave of humidity that hit him as he got off the plane was a not so gentle reminder that he was far from home. That knowledge, however, was what Logan needed for a week of serving Belizean communities.

The high school junior is part of Young Black Leadership Alliance (YBLA), a Charlotte-based nonprofit dedicated to granting Black high school and college students with service and leadership opportunities. Along with 21 other juniors, Logan loved on the communities of the south side of Belize City by sharing groceries with residents, distributing shoes and helping build a home for a resident who lost her house during a hurricane.

“We were constantly helping. We were constantly serving. We were never just doing anything for ourselves,” Logan said.

Logan and his peers knew they would leave Belize with informed perspectives and changed hearts. Moriah Smith wants to be an actress, and her experience serving in Belize was a powerful reminder of why to fight for her career — and prioritize love above anything else.

“I’m gonna do what I love to do so that I can push my love out there so other people can feel it,” Moriah said.

When her parents couldn’t afford to keep her in

When her parents couldn’t afford to keep her in school past sixth grade, Rosibely Sut fought to continue her studies. And now, she’s fighting for other Indigenous Maya women to make their own life decisions, too.

Rosibely works as the Mobile Health Coordinator for Wuqu’ Kawoq, a Guatemalan nonprofit dedicated to serving the country’s Indigenous Maya women by providing them with quality, accessible healthcare. Half of Guatemala’s population is Maya, and due to barriers such as language, culture and socioeconomic backgrounds, most of the country’s Indigenous Maya population receives inadequate healthcare treatment when they go to hospitals — if they can even access one. For pregnant women, misinformation, stigmas and familial pressure often prevent them from seeking out hospitals or clinics, and they instead rely on themselves or their families for support and care throughout their pregnancies.

“The patients have these fears and think, ‘I’ll be alone and I’m going to feel vulnerable in the hospital,” Rosibely says.

Rosibely’s job is to help mitigate their fears and educate them on reproductive and maternal health. She’s in charge of a team of midwives who serve in various rural communities, providing their patients with consultations and routine checkups, including ultrasounds. By building trust within the communities, Rosibely helps other Indigenous women like herself to know their bodies and empowers them to be in control of their health, instead of leaving it up to their society and families.

“This is what I hope to see in the future, that the women in my community can make their own decisions about their own lives,” Rosibely says.

Great Britain isn't the only place that has a Lond

Great Britain isn't the only place that has a London Bridge — though it may be the most famous. However, in a small neighborhood on the south side of Belize City, there are hundreds of London Bridges.

London Bridges — as the neighborhood is referred to locally — consists of a trail of wooden bridges that branch off and connect to each residents' home. Primarily a neighborhood for immigrants and low-income Belizeans, London Bridges is an overlooked area of Belize City, and its residents have noted feeling forgotten by the city's government and the surrounding population. The bridges were constructed by local residents in order to connect the community to the nearest main roads, and to each other.

Belize's version of London Bridges are smaller and wooden, but just as likely to fall down. The neighborhood has a “you break it, you fix it” mentality, and residents are often found repairing parts of the wooden maze outside of their neighbors' homes. Despite the neighborhood's estrangement from the rest of the city, its residents prioritize remaining connected to each other, and with each makeshift bridge constructed, the neighborhood — and its interconnectedness — grows.

At times, Makayla feels like she’s the only teen

At times, Makayla feels like she’s the only teen mom out there — the only teenager who goes home after school and mixes baby formula while studying for a test, or takes a break from doing homework to change a diaper.

However, she’s constantly reminded that she’s not alone.

One Thursday night each month, Makayla brings her daughter, Aaliyah, with her to Club, a gathering hosted by YoungLives where teen parents can eat dinner, catch up with friends and play games — and just be teenagers. Volunteers watch the children while teens relax and let themselves have fun in an inclusive and supportive atmosphere.

A division of YoungLife, YoungLives is dedicated to supporting teen parents in Charlotte through mentorship, after-school events and community. And since joining YoungLives, Makayla has felt the love radiating from the community she’s found there.

“Even if you don’t have a support system, they’re always there for you,” she says. “They taught me things that I didn’t know of mom life, walked me through a lot and I know that I have people who are there to push me to be a great mom.”

Considered one of the countries with the greatest

Considered one of the countries with the greatest biodiversity on Earth, Guatemala is home to thousands of precious species of flora and fauna — but the country faces daily threats to its natural environments.

From climate change and extreme weather events to over-exploitation and criminal activity, Guatemala’s natural resources are constantly threatened and in need of protection. Without the dedication of local organizations, thousands of Guatemala’s species would be lost.

Our team is excited to spend this week serving Defensores de la Naturaleza, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting Guatemala’s threatened ecosystems. With visits to some of Guatemala’s protected parks and forests, we’ll help share the story of how Defensores develops educational projects on sustainability, collects data on native species and collaborates with local communities to implement practices that conserve the environment they inhabit.

Whenever each of her students walks into the class

Whenever each of her students walks into the classroom, Kathryn Lewis can’t help but think of one thing: how beautiful it is that they exist.

It’s a constant refrain in her head that reflects on her philosophy on teaching: that a student, before anything, is made in the image of God. And as a teacher, her role is not to give them this identity — it’s to help the students uncover it for themselves.

“I’m not some special person giving them something special; it’s already in them. It’s already there,” Kathryn says.

As an English Language Arts teacher at Brookstone Schools, Kathryn aspires to do more than just transfer information into her fifth graders. Through literary classics like epic poems, Shakespearean plays and African American literature, she transforms her classroom into a haven of art, beauty and curiosity — and hopes that by being exposed to literary masterpieces, they can then recognize themselves as God’s own masterpieces.

“For every single one of them, they are known and they are loved — and they have a purpose and a reason for being here,” Kathryn says.

Four hundred and twenty-six days ago, the lives of

Four hundred and twenty-six days ago, the lives of over 23 million women in Ukraine changed indefinitely. Displacement, fear and loss became very present realities when Russian forces invaded their country. But over a year since the invasion, women in Ukraine have found avenues of hope.

Despite the daily challenges of living in a war-torn country, Ukrainian women are making business endeavors and financial investments to bring hope to their families and communities. They’re also finding support through trauma counselors, who aid them in processing the emotional trauma that comes with living through a war.

As part of our Women in Focus event series, Silent Images is inviting a representative from Hope International to discuss microfinance among Ukrainian women in an informative and encouraging atmosphere. We’re also inviting an on-the-ground trauma counselor to discuss supporting Ukrainian women throughout the war, and contribute to an overall conversation on faith, hope and resilience.

To become part of the conversation, join other women on Sunday, April 30 from 3-4 p.m. at Brakeman’s Coffee in Matthews, NC.

Click the link in our bio to register for the free event.

Correction: Our previous post stated that the event runs from 4-6 p.m. The event runs from 3-4 p.m. The correction is included in the caption and graphic.

Jazz has grown as a multicultural art form, but it

Jazz has grown as a multicultural art form, but it was born in America — and a group of young musicians from Charlotte are working hard to continue its legacy.

As one of the educational programs that comprise JazzArts Charlotte, Nuestro Tiempo Latin Jazz Student Ensemble is the newest offering of JazzArts Academy. With Nuestro Tiempo, Charlotte-area middle and high schoolers can learn how to apply Latin rhythm and percussion to their musical repertoire.

Latin jazz is a “bridging of different worlds together,” says instructor Julio Jeri, and he stresses the importance of programs like Nuestro Tiempo that encourage collaboration among students and strengthen the presence of jazz in Charlotte.

“My hope for the students is that they realize that the community needs projects like Nuestro Tiempo,” Julio says.

Andrea Serech technically works from home — but

Andrea Serech technically works from home — but not in the pandemic-era way one would expect.

She’s the owner of a small bodega, a miniature convenience store set about five steps from her front door. The store faces a street that goes through the small rural town of Chuatzunuj, located on the outskirts of the bigger city of Tecpán, Guatemala. The back door faces an exposed hallway connecting Andrea’s kitchen to the bathroom.

Andrea doesn’t remember exactly how many years ago she started the store — “about five or six,” she says — but she remembers clearly what it looked like. Only the glass display and some lotions could be found in Andrea’s store when she opened it. Now, the walls and display are covered with snacks, clothing and Indigenous fabrics that she purchases each Thursday from the market in Tecpán.

The store is Andrea’s main way of supporting herself, and she hopes that the bright colors, sweet and sour candies and draw of a humble neighborhood convenience store continues to bring in local customers — and with them, her income.

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