help, hope, healing THE HANNA PROJECT IN ACTION By Brent Vawter and Deborah St. Lawrence To learn more about The Hanna Project, visit www.thehannaproject.com.

As Mike scanned the courtyard next to the surgical block, he noticed Sam. At least that was the name Mike had given the three-year-old boy last year. Here he was again—a year older, but still crawling because of his disabling deformity. Sam’s foot had been badly burned as an infant and was fused to his leg. The Hanna Project doctors had been unable to help him the previous year. Dr. Cox, an orthopedic surgeon, examined the small boy and decided to tackle the challenge. Five hours later, two surgeons and a nurse completed the major operation in the small bush hospital in Doropo, Ivory Coast.

Mike asked Sam’s father why he had returned with the boy after being turned down the year before. His simple response: “I had hope.” Hope led this father to make a 30-mile trek through the bush.

Help, hope, and healing—the motto of The Hanna Project—were shared with Sam, his family, and thousands of others during the six days a 40-member team worked in the northern bush of Côte d’Ivoire earlier this year.

Following Christ’s Example

The Hanna Project is spreading the gospel the way Jesus did—by ministering to the mind, body, and soul of the lost. Following Christ’s example, THP goes where others don’t, to help those whom others won’t. The lost, the blind, the lame, the disfigured, the dying now testify to the passionate and life-changing love of Christ for His children.

Case in point: The king of Seroudi traveled nearly five hours to the Doropo clinic, hoping to gain clearer eyesight. Dr. Hill and his team checked Monsieur le Roi’s eyes and fitted him with a pair of glasses. As tribal king, he testified that his villagers carried him on their heads as a symbol of respect and honor. But, since he met Jesus, he realized there is only one King! Not only did this man’s eyesight improve, but he gained spiritual insight as well.

Save-A-Life Projects

THP has sponsored two initiatives over the last two years in the rebel-occupied territory of northern Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), West Africa. In February of this year, a team of U.S. surgeons, nurses, EMTs, optometrists, and church leaders performed dozens of operations, treated thousands of medical conditions, and shared the gospel with villages all across the territory. Only a handful of the 40-member team are full-time ministers. The others took leave from their jobs and left their comfort zones to fulfill their roles as lay ministers—tithing with their time and skills in addition to their wallets.

THP targets those trapped by poverty and oppression. Its heartbeat is for those labeled unreachable or untouchable. “We help people whose very lives and livelihood are at stake,” says team member Cameron Lane. “The people we treat in surgery, for instance, are often outcasts from society because of a deformity or disease.”

Joel (pictured before his surgery right and after his surgery above and below) and his father traveled 500 miles after hearing about The Hanna Project’s surgeons. Joel was just another active, 11-year-old boy—until you looked at his face. A large tumor obscured his left eye. Mocked by the other kids, he no longer attended school. Dr. Brooks removed the tumor and Joel discovered he could see out of his left eye! But, even more important to him he now looked “normal.” His father’s eyes filled with tears as Joel proclaimed, “Now the other kids won’t make fun of me.”

Innovative Outreach

Created in 2005 by the Board of FWB International Missions as a vehicle for reaching restricted access countries for the purpose of evangelism, The Hanna Project honors the lifetime work of Free Will Baptist missionaries Carlisle and Marie Hanna. When Mike Cousineau was asked to head The Hanna Project, he and long-time colleague Clint Morgan (whose two-year feasibility study resulted in THP’s formation) began looking for ways to take THP into Côte d’Ivoire. They had worked in this country for decades as Free Will Baptist missionaries, and felt the present need and their contacts made Côte d’Ivoire a good launching pad for the fledgling NGO.

“This year we’ve also begun operations in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, and are developing a plan for Morocco and Mauritania as well,” indicates Cousineau. “We’ll go wherever God sends us, but only if He’s sending us.”

The Hanna Project works where disease and injury are prevalent, where education is inadequate or altogether non-existent. People lack even the basic skills to recognize, prevent, and address health problems. Through The Hanna Project, the gospel is being preached both in word and deed.

By providing surgery, eye care, and medical assistance, THP creates goodwill between villages and the teams, opening the door for the gospel to be shared while giving much-needed assistance.

Hard Work

Working in places like Côte d’Ivoire is grueling, to be sure. Teams sleep in tents on the baked sand, labor in extreme heat and sun, are surrounded by heartbreaking disease and despair, and are separated from their families. Their effort isn’t without political risks, either.

No one knows this better than Mike Cousineau, the project’s administrative director. Mike, the son of Free Will Baptist missionaries, has worked in Côte d’Ivoire for the last 27 years. He has been involved in several life-threatening accidents traveling through the African bush. He’s been shot at, beaten, held captive, targeted for assassination, and witnessed the interrogation and execution of a colleague.

“We’re not careless in how we do God’s work,” says Cousineau. “We thoroughly research the situation, develop contingency plans, and work with people on the ground who know the situation well.

“But we don’t operate in fear either. Fear is the devil’s tactic to scare us into staying still. We can’t afford to sit still! It’s 2007, yet entire people groups still don’t know about Jesus. They are good people—people you and I would be blessed to have as friends—but for lack of the gospel, they’re following the pagan practices of their ancestors.”

To compound the tragedy of their ignorance, there’s the very real physical plight these people face day after day. Whether rooted in a corrupt or warring government, generations of pagan traditions, or an ineffective educational system, the cycle is both dooming and damning.

“We want more than anything to win lost souls and make disciples of Christ,” says Clint Morgan, consultant to The Hanna Project. “Evangelism is the primary purpose of The Hanna Project. But experience has taught us many cultures require we earn the right to share the gospel. We have to gain access first.”

The Hanna Project doesn’t fit under the description of a relief organization. Its model is not to distribute supplies, but rather to personally touch the lives of those needing Christ’s love. By providing a crucial surgery, enabling vision for those who can’t see, or educating entire communities on how to avoid and treat health threats, it’s all about sharing and showing the gospel of Christ.

“The Bible says we were made to do good works. Jesus also tells us to care for the needy, to love them like we love ourselves, and that doing so is an act of worship to Him,” says Cousineau. “The Hanna Project is a great way for individuals, churches, and even businesses to do just that.”

Dramatic Impact

In only six days, the 2007 team performed more than 50 surgeries that included cleft lips, tumors, lumps, knee repair, burn trauma, congenital deformities, bursitis, and even a gunshot wound. They also handled numerous dental procedures, injections for arthritis, and treatment for staph. Meanwhile, the eye clinic gave almost a thousand eye exams and dispensed over 850 pairs of prescription lenses.

Optometrist Dr. Hill and his team observed dramatic responses as women and men saw clearly for the first time in many years. Some people sat in stunned silence as they distinguished the features on beloved faces. Others reacted with tears of joy. Still others jumped to their feet, shouted, and ran about as they thrilled to the ability to make out individual leaves on trees.

Four mobile medical teams set out each day into the African bush aboard trucks and motorcycles to work in the most remote of the remote areas. Using local pastors as interpreters, lessons on hygiene and first aid were taught, sanitary and first aid supplies were distributed, wounds and sicknesses were treated, and the gospel was boldly preached. Decisions for Christ were made in most of the 43 villages visited, including one entire village that committed to cease its pagan worship and animal sacrifice to follow the one true God.

Injecting Fun

The idiom “laughter is the best medicine” may not be theologically or medically accurate, but The Hanna Project includes fun in its ministry nonetheless. Each team visiting the villages had members whose role was to play with the kids and hold a soccer camp. Each village was left with a new soccer ball personalized with prayers and Scripture written by team members.

The response in villages was overwhelming—from kids, mothers, and village leaders alike. And it wasn’t the gift of a soccer ball or a bar of soap that warmed the reception, but rather the love of Christ poured out in each place.

Through gifts, acts of kindness, and good old-fashioned fun, The Hanna Project earns the opportunity to preach the gospel in each community. “That’s the main reason we’re out here,” said Jimmy Holbrook, pastor of Harrah Free Will Baptist Church and 2007 Hanna Project team member. “We won’t leave a village until we’ve had the opportunity to share about Jesus. If we have to come back again the next day and the day after that to get to that point, we will.”

The Hanna Project’s vision is cast, the word is out, and the buzz is building. “With such a compelling mission and successful model, supporting The Hanna Project is a great way to engage a congregation that’s in need of a spark,” says Cousineau. “As we go into more and more regions, we’re going to need more team members, equipment, financial resources, and certainly prayer partners.”

Brent Vawter, a consultant/partner in a Philadelphia-based marketing agency, joined The Hanna Project's 2007 team after hearing about it on a radio station. He lives in Oklahoma City. Deborah St. Lawrence is the media coordinator for Free Will Baptist International Missions.

For additional information about The Hanna Project and how you or your church can get involved, visit the website at www.hannaproject.com or call (405) 600-8040.