Who Are Ola Hanson & the Kachin?

Rev. and Mrs. Ola Hanson were appointed by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society in 1890 to the Kachin people of Upper Burma and they arrived in December of that year. The task before them seemed hopeless.

In the early days of pioneer missions, the Kachins were described as revengeful, cruel, and treacherous. Even the King of Burma addressed the missionaries who came to work with the Kachins as follows: "So you are to teach the Kachins! Do you see my dogs over there? I tell you, it will be easier to convert and teach these dogs. You are wasting your life."

Today there are 400,000 to 500,000 Kachin Christians; 300,000 of them are Baptists. Ola Hanson is strongly revered even today as the father of the Kachin church.

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