Last year I had the opportunity to do some photojournalism work in West Africa for a missionary organization. The war in Ivory Coast had just ended and I was able to return to the country where I grew up. I revisited my childhood home which is now dilapidated and bullet-riddled from nearly a decade of civil war.

In Abidjan, I met Gaston, a deacon in the local church, who shared the most incredible testimony with me. On the day the violence in the city was at its peak, his pregnant wife went into premature labor and was hemorrhaging. He risked his life over and over in an attempt to save her and his unborn child.

His story is riveting, heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. Most importantly it is a shining example of what TRUE LOVE is. Not a fleeting emotional flight of fancy but a committed, death-defying, act of sacrifice and selflessness – one modeled so brilliantly and perfectly by Christ himself.

With Valentine’s Day a week away, I thought it quite appropriate to share this video now. I hope Gaston’s story inspires you as much as it has my wife and me.

Download options (right-click and choose “Save As…”):

• H.264 720p HD (377MB)
• H.264 480p SD (187MB)
• MPEG-2 480i SD (207MB)

The song at the end of the video is by my talented friend Adam Randall. You can get his latest album on iTunes for under $7.

Adam Randall – The Vanishing World

The music that scores the video was composed and performed by Japanese musician Yusuke Tsutsumi. He graciously releases his work under the Creative Commons license meaning other artist like myself can use it in our creative process. To him I say, “Arigatou gozaimasu”!

If you are interested in more stories of faith from the front lines of the war in Ivory Coast, check out my coverage for the IMB’s AfricaStories.org web site.

Selfless Love: A Testimony is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

B/W Portraits from West Africa is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

You can read my two stories “A Time To Heal” and “Reason to Celebrate” as well as browse a photo gallery and watch a music video over at AfricaStories.org.

Ivory Coast: A Time To Heal is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

I was recently contacted by an editor with The Habitat Advocate, an Australia Habitat Consevation Web Site, about licensing the image above for publication with their article. I took the image in 2007 when on a photo journalism assignment in southwest Burkina Faso.

I’m always thrilled to have my photography discovered and appreciated by others on the internet. I’m even more thrilled when editors take the time to ask my permission instead of simply stealing the image. A lot of people incorrectly assume that because a photo is on Google Images it is public domain. So kudos to Mr. Ridd of The Habitat Advocate for being ethical about image use.

You can read “Bush Arsonists Read Newspapers,” the article the image was paired with, on their blog.

Image Used on Aussie Habitat Conservation Site is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

The project was a collaboration with my mother who gathers and edits stories written by missionaries on the field in West Africa. Entitled “The Intercessor Connection”, the monthly newsletter (it was bi-monthly for the first 2 years) focused on personal stories of prayer requests and answered prayers.

This month my parents are retiring after 25 years of missionary service to West Africa. Their retirement and the recent re-organization of the IMB which merges the West Africa region into the larger grouping of Sub-Saharan Africa are the reasons for discontinuing the newsletter. I’m sure in the next couple months a new iteration of The Intercessor will emerge for the larger region.

I’ve compiled all the issues of The Intercessor Connection into one PDF
which you can download from the gowestafrica.org website:
http://www.gowestafrica.org/pray/newsletters/intercessor-conn-archives.pdf

I’d like to thank several people for helping out on this project that resulted in over 75 issues being created.

• First, my mom for her hard work collecting and editing the stories for all those years.
• Thanks to my dad for reviewing and approving each and every issue that went out.
• A shout out to Mary Beth Meilstrup for coming up with the original design & logo of the newsletter.
• Kudos to the folks at the IMB eMedia department for creating the mail application used to send out each issue – Marty, Jason, Paul, Harry… you guys are geniuses!
• Thanks to everyone who subscribed and read each issue.
• Thanks most of all to each of the missionaries who shared their personal stories of the joys and trials of sharing the Gospel with the unreached people of West Africa.

The Intercessor Connection Retires is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

The article online is the story Emily Peters wrote about Pat Ozment, a missionary teach young national pastors at a seminary in northern Ghana. The piece has a couple of my photos as well as a video slideshow I created that lets you follow Pat on one of his training workshops in a village. The music in the video is by my friend James Madison Thomas. You can watch the video below:

Building Up the Next Generation is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

Last week the Baptist Communicators Association announced its annual winners of the Wilmer C. Fields Awards and our team won several including a grand prize. These awards are given to members of the Association to recognize those who have done exemplary work for Baptist organizations in the field of communications and/or public relations.

Here’s the rundown of the awards our team won:

Design Division
2nd place ‘Specialty Item – Printed’ category: West Africa Scrapbook Kit – Jesse Lyautey and Mary Beth Meilstrup
Honorable Mention ‘Specialty Item – Giveaway’ category: West Africa Sandals – Mary Beth Meilstrup

Interactive Media Division
1st place ‘Web Sites’ category: West Africa Regional Web Site

Grand Prize
The Diane Reasoner Award for Exceptional Achievement in Interactive Communications: West Africa Regional Web Site

I’m really excited to have been a part of that team and honored that we received the awards for the web site. Now that the West Africa and Central/Eastern/Southern Africa regions are merging we will have an even bigger team with more talented individuals. I can’t wait to see what we do this year!

Also, I had never heard of Diane Reasoner whom the award is named after so I did a little Googling and found this out:

“[In May 2008], BCA members voted to name one of its grand prize awards in honor of Diane Reasoner, longtime communications specialist for the Georgia Baptist Convention who was killed in an auto accident April 1, 2007, in metro Atlanta.

“The award named in her honor is for exceptional achievement in interactive communications, an award introduced at the BCA workshop in 2002, when Reasoner was serving the organization as president.

“‘Diane embodied the BCA spirit,’ said Trennis Henderson, vice president for communications, Ouachita Baptist University, Arkansas, as he made the recommendation to name the award in Reasoner’s honor. … During her career, she won numerous BCA awards, including two awards posthumously.” *

Now I’m even more humbled! You can see her award winning work as well as other winners’ at the BCA Awards web site.

West Africa Web Site Wins BCA Awards is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

The theme of this Spring 2009 edition is “Building Up God’s Kingdom.” Here’s a run down of some of the articles:

• war-weary pastors encouraged by peace-making volunteers.
• rural Mali villages impacted by a ministry in bustling New York City.
• seminary students thrilled by hands-on training from a gray-haired professor.
• new believers building their faith despite cultural challenges.
• small churches taking big steps of faith to get the Gospel to unreached people groups.
• and more!

Order your FREE copy now!

New “Go West Africa” Magazine is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

The video walks through one of the TRT (Training for Rural Trainers) workshops in which missionary Pat Ozment teaches national church members how to share the Gospel using the oral tradition they are familiar with.

A special thanks to my friend James Thomas who let me use his great instrumental track “Waterwheel”. You can watch him perform the song on Youtube.

Credits

Photos & Narration by William Haun
Based on the story by Emily Peters
Music by James Madison Thomas

Training for Rural Trainers in Ghana is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

I just found out that it won 3rd place in the end-of-year “Print of the Year” competition. It’s exciting not only to have my work appreciated and recognized but to be able to share the beauty of West Africa with folks here in Middle Georgia.

The Veil is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

Back from Africa is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

Heidi has been doing a rotation at Moffitt this month and through her contacts there I was invited to display my It Pains O’ Why portrait series at the final event of NMCAW at Moffitt. Though the specific focus of the event was on the health issues of American minorities Moffitt realizes the need for health care and education reaches beyond our nation and around the globe.

I was very honored to display my photos in such a prestigious health center and enjoyed sharing the work that BMC has been doing in Ghana. You can support BMC’s work by purchasing a print of one of my photographs and the profits from the sale go entirely to the George Faile Foundation.

Photos displayed at Moffitt Cancer Center is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

You can read the story over at www.gowestafrica.org and watch the videos (one of which I’ve posted below).

Story on the Robertsons in Cote d’Ivoire is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

For the first graders though, I covered much more basic things: animals in Africa, what kids do for fun, what their houses look like, and of course, the obligatory “gross foods” topic. The foods discussion quickly turned into a barage of “have you ever…” questions. “Have you ever eaten snake?” (yes), “Have you ever eaten bugs?” (yes, fried termites), “Have you ever eaten monkey?” (no), “Have you ever you eaten rats?” (yes).

The Q&A time abruptly ended when one little boy asked me, “Have you ever eaten a leprechaun?”

Talking to Kids about Africa is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

During our trip to West Africa I received a lot of positive feedback about my photography from our blog readers. I really appreciate the encouragement and compliments. I’ve set up a online gallery/store where I’m selling some of my favorite images from the trip. All the profits from the sales will be going to the George Faile Foundation which exclusively supports BMC, the hospital where Heidi was working.

More details about the prints are available on the gallery homepage. I hope that this provides folks with an opportunity to get some new art for their home or office and support a good cause at the same time.

Buy Prints For Charity is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

You can order a free copy from the IMB’s online store. All you pay is shipping (60-ish cents) so why not order one and then make a donation to international missions while you have your wallet out?

Photos Published in West Africa Magazine is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

In years past we’ve made videos for Christmas cards (2006, 2005, 2002) but this year we commissioned Boyz2Men, the top artist in Nalerigu to paint our card for us. Merry Christmas to all!

2007 Hauns’ Christmas Card is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

Where am I? In Ghana! is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

We’ve setup a blog for our trip at www.haunsinafrica.com.
Visit it to find out about the trip and how you can help.

Below is a satellite view of the hospital compound we will be working/living at.

View Larger Map

Use Google Earth? Download this Google Earth Bookmark to zoom right in on Nalerigu on the map.
Don’t have Google Earth? Get it! It rocks!

Moving to West Africa for 3 months is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

For over a year and a half, I’ve been working with my mom sending out a bi-weekly eNewsletter called the “The Intercessor Connection.” The newsletter always contains one or two stories written by or about Southern Baptist missionaries serving in West Africa. My mom is the newsletter editor and I create and launch the emails every other week.

The subscription base has grown to almost 3500 now and I thought I’d promote it a little here. You can see past issues of the newsletter on the gowestafrica.org website and you can also subscribe to start receiving it.

West Africa Missions eNewsletter is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development