Getting to Know Kenny Jones Jr.

This is Kenny! He is the Director at Ikondo, and also currently serves at the trip host. Since planning a trip to visit Ikondo through the Hands & Feet Project involves working so closely with him, we decided to sit down and do an interview with him to let you get to know him a little bit better.

What is your role at Ikondo? (Describe in as much detail as you can in terms of your involvement down at Ikondo, and the interactions you have with groups that will be traveling there)

My role at Ikondo is to provide overall oversight of the operations of the facility. I have a handful of direct reports (American and Haitian) that make up the facility management.

Specifically, as we do not have a person to fill the position, I directly oversee the hosting and trip programming piece at Ikondo. I provide communication with team/trip leads that allow them to speak into the details of their trip. While on the ground, I host the teams on their excursions, mission projects and daily debriefs.

Post trip, I communicate with teams individually to see if there is any assistance they need with some of the things they might be still wrestling with concerning their trip to Haiti. I also do some marketing and trip booking through contacting churches, organizations, etc. I feel one of the most important pieces of my role at HAFP as the Director of Ikondo is to keep the mission and vision of HAFP and Ikondo in front of the staff.

How did you first hear about Ikondo?

I had recently been hired as the Student Pastor at Journey Church. The student ministry had been going to Nicaragua for the past 6 years and they were in the process of putting together the summer trip. That summer trip didn’t go very well and I began to look for different options for next year’s summer international missions trip. I knew that Mark Stuart from Audio Adrenaline attended our church and had a non-profit that hosted short term mission trips to Haiti. I approached Mark and set up a lunch date to hear about Hands and Feet Project.

Were you involved with the Hands and Feet Project before Ikondo was created, or not? If so, how did the whole concept for Ikondo come to light? If not, was that what drew you to their mission, or was it something out?

I was not involved prior to Ikondo being built. I would definitely say that the mission and vision of Ikondo (and HAFP) drew me to another lunch date with Mark and inquiring about coming on board at HAFP.

Why did you decide to get involved? What lead you to that decision?

Again, the mission and vision. At HAFP, our mission is to care for the orphaned and abandoned and fight to keep families in Haiti together. We accomplish this through several ways, but specifically with Ikondo is through job creation. In Haiti, unemployment is very high. So we have found that if family members were employed, it would create a support system, other than aid, to assist them in providing for their families and in turn funnel money back into the community to help other Haitians.

What does Ikondo mean to you?

It’s always two-fold because I think of the Haitian people and our short-term mission teams. For the Haitians, it means an opportunity to care for their families by steady employment. For our short-term mission teams, it means an opportunity to participate in a mission experience through a new lens. One that allows you the space to not only serve the community you are visiting, but to really see the people and culture and its differences and similarities to our own.

What are important parts of your background/testimony that you think feed well into this organization, or that you think people should know?

There are a handful of pieces of my testimony that helps to connect me to my new job at Hands and Feet Project. One would be the day I found myself and younger brother in the back of a police car waiting for Child Protective Services to pick us up to place us in foster care due to my mom’s drug addiction and lack of my father’s presence in our lives (they were divorced). Fortunately, my grandmother was notified and rescued us from being further disconnected from family. Looking back on that moment today, I believe it is why I have made my life’s work (20+ years as a Kids/Student/College pastor) to help families work better together, individually and holistically.

Why is Ikondo so important? What are its goals?

Ikondo is important because the heart behind the whole concept is balanced, leaning into helping the Haitians as well as the short term missionaries. For the Haitians, the goal is to give them back their dignity through job creation. Presently, Ikondo has 24 contracted employees. The goal, when completed is to employ 55 Haitians to facilitate Ikondo’s daily operations. The other piece is to educate the short term missionaries on “healthy” mission engagement. Rather than digging a hole or painting a wall (which we could employ Haitians to do), we intentionally create community interaction and cultural immersion for our visiting teams. Our desire is to allow teams to see and fall in love with the beautiful landscape and people of Haiti…to see past the poverty (which exists in many shapes and forms all over the world, including America) and see the heart, joy and beauty of Haiti.

Our 3 initiatives are Serve, Explore and Retreat. We want our groups to serve…we believe that service is a large part of our connectedness through our faith. We want people to see and explore Haiti in order to see that it IS a beautiful country. We want people to Retreat…most mission trips are so “DO”ing based, we forget that we need to BE…be present in the moment with our heavenly Father. I believe that mission trips, currently, are more for the missionary than for the people being ministered too, and that needs to change.

What do you want people to gain from going to Ikondo and the experience they will have in Haiti?

Like I stated above, that Haiti and its people are more than the poverty that is so prevalent when you visit. That when we look past the obvious, there is so much connection and joy that exists amongst the people that is missing in parts of American culture…that there is actually something we could learn from the Haitians.

What makes Ikondo different from other missions both to Haiti and elsewhere?

I believe that the mission field all over the world is intentional about service projects and exploring the country/community that you are in. The piece that separates us from other mission organizations is the RETREAT aspect of our programming. We intentionally carve out time and give guests permission to sit in a rocking chair or find a quiet place (we have dedicated places to do so) and retreat! We believe that the individual being on mission is not only about “doing”, but about “being” which requires time alone and away from norm and chaos to “hear and speak” to Jesus and reflect on what the Holy Spirit is revealing to them.

Why should school groups bring classes/students to Ikondo? What does it have to offer?

I believe that Ikondo has a great facility that can host classes on our campus and at the same time can be reminded of the impact of their mission trip. While in or on your way to class, you are constantly reminded that just by you being on campus, the money that you have spent for your trip has helped employ our Haitian staff. It also can offer a peaceful and serene environment that allows you to rest well after a long day of exploring and serving which helps entering into the next day.

What is your favorite thing about Haiti?

The people! I have new life long friends that I have the privilege to do life with, exchanging and sharing stories and cultures!

What do you see in Haiti that you feel like a lot of people overlook/don’t see?

Joy. It is the hardest thing to see for visiting short term missionaries because they can’t see past the poverty.

Why Haiti?

Jesus! I wasn’t looking to do anything else except ministry from a church staff position. The experience rocked my world and I was drawn to this new way to do missions that in turn creates jobs and helps support the local economy.

We hope that you enjoyed getting to know a little bit about Kenny. If you wanna learn more, come on a trip with us! Kenny would love to tell you more of his story and get to know all of you in return!

Na wè pita! (See you later!)