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GoodNewsFL.org
August 2017 29
WORLD
Ikondo is Redefining Mission Trips
Anitra Paremele
Good News
Your Instagram, Facebook
and Snapchat are flooded with
pictures of you and your family.
There’s that moment when you
conquered a stand-up paddle
board, your triumphant grin just
a little brighter than the sunlight
reflected off the crystal clear
ocean waves. The expression of
exhilaration as you explored a
mountain bike trail that wound
up the side of a real mountain, a
foreign concept when your only
previous point of reference was
Mount Trashmore. Pictures that
capture a trip full of laughter, ad-
venture, hanging with your fam-
ily and late-night conversations
about life. Pictures from your
recent trip to . . .Haiti?
Yes,
if
Mark
Stuart,
co-founder of the Hands & Feet
Project and former lead singer
for the Christian band Audio
Adrenaline, has his way. “You
tell someone you are headed to
Haiti next week and their re-
sponse is ‘Bless your heart.’ They
assume it’s a mission trip. Tell
them you’re headed to the DR
(Dominican Republic) and they
know it’s a vacation, but the two
countries share an island.”
Mark describes the goals
of Ikondo, a mission guest vil-
lage in Grand Goave, Haiti, “We
want youth groups and families
to come and see Haiti’s beau-
ty. We want your Instagram to
blow up not with pictures of the
bad conditions but a celebration
of Haiti. Haiti desperately wants
to reignite tourism here.”
Mark is no stranger to the
reality of life in Haiti. His par-
ents have served as missionar-
ies on and off here since 1986.
Since 2004, the Hands & Feet
Project has operated children’s
villages for Haiti’s children in
crisis. “For thirteen years, we’ve
operated Children’s Villages and
we’ve watched as the orphan
crisis just kept growing. Now
we are adding a new initiative
to fight for family preservation.
We’re swimming upstream. Par-
ents need jobs so they don’t feel
forced to give up their children.
We looked at the low hanging
fruit to help produce jobs...and
it’s tourism.”
“We’ll continue to do child
care and orphan care for kids in
crisis – respite care until reunifi-
cation. If reunification isn’t pos-
sible, then we focus on healthy
attachments with our house par-
ents. We’re establishing a new
standard of how to engage; we’re
moving the needle towards
family preservation.” Mark goes
on to explain how the ministry
provides three hundred jobs for
Haitians that allow them to re-
tain their dignity and provide for
their children. “You don’t have to
paint a wall or lay block to con-
tribute to rebuilding Haiti.”
Conflicting images
If you’re struggling to rec-
oncile your mental images of
Haiti with the resort-like set-
ting of Ikondo, Mark gets that.
“We could fly people up (to
Ikondo) or put them on a boat,
but we want people to experi-
ence the reality of Haiti. Haiti
is broken. The infrastructure is
broken, and we don’t want to
hide people from that. We drive
through the Port au Prince and
the reaction is often ‘This place
has no hope. We need to move
everyone out of here.’ Then we
arrive at Ikondo and people be-
gin to feel hopeful, but they’re
still dealing with the desire to fix
things...to be heroic. The deeper
tension comes at Ikondoz: the
first time a Haitian buses your
table, you’re going to want to say,
‘No! No! Let me do that. In fact,
let me help you. Can I clean your
yard after work?’ But you feeling
better about yourself for that
instant doesn’t help Haiti long
term. What does help…is giving
people the dignity of a job.”
Mark talks about the ten-
sion between what guests have
as Americans and the condi-
tions in Haiti as the intersection
where something beautiful can
happen. It’s a tension that is as
much a part of Ikondo as the gor-
geous setting or amazing food.
Each youth group trip, family
vacation or corporate retreat is
specifically curated to remind
guests that they are coming to
Ikondo not just to serve but to
be served.
Serve, Retreat, Explore
Every day’s schedule is in-
tentionally laid out to fulfill the
Ikondo motto – Serve, Retreat,
Explore. Mornings might find
you participating in a service
project as you tour the children’s
village before engaging in an im-
promptu soccer game. Painting
or light construction projects
are a chance to work alongside a
great Haitian crew.
Afternoons are for tourism
as you head to the beach to snor-
kel or paddle-board, go to the
mountains to enjoy the breath-
taking scenery, or explore the
Art District.
At night, there’s worship
and a chance to unpack the day.
Mark explains, “We want peo-
ple to be exposed to a bachelor’s
level education in social justice,
orphan care and social entre-
preneurship while they’re here.
Even evangelism is predicated
on how we treat people with
justice. Our staff is ready to lead
those conversations.”
Mark acknowledges that
getting people to consider Haiti
a legitimate vacation destination
is an uphill battle. “It’s easier to
‘sell’ traditional mission trips.
We could announce them and
we’d be full in no time. But we’re
willing to take the risk, to expe-
rience the pushback and to have
less people. We are convinced
that for Haiti to move forward, it
has to have sustainable jobs.”
“The people are brilliant,
hard-working and skilled. My
passion is for Haiti to thrive.”
For more information on
upcoming trips including art-
ist-hosted trips with Zach Wil-
liams, Citizen Way, and Mercy
Me, e-mail Trips@Handsand-
FeetProject.org
Anitra Parmele is a free-lance
writer in South Florida and regular
contributor to the Good News. She can
be reached at AnitraParmele@gmail.
com
Hands and Feet co-founder Mark Stuart shares at Ikondo