Audio Adrenaline: Interview with Mark Stuart of Audio Adrenaline

I know there is some info on your website, but could you tell us a little bit more about your 'Hands and Feet' project.

Mark: Sure - I love talking about the Hands and Feet project. It's very cool. This was something that everybody in the band was very involved with as far as the vision. Audio Adrenaline in Haiti The Hands and Feet project is really to get our fans involved in building the orphanage. It's obviously there to raise up a generation of Christians in Haiti and affect the region of Southern Haiti. But it's also to give our fans an actual physical opportunity to do something with Audio Adrenaline - to get your hands dirty - to get some blisters on your hands, you know. Myself, when I would go on short-term mission trips to Haiti with my parents, I was changed ... dramatically, on a two-week trip as a teenager. I think for us if we can get kids to do this and go on these trips, that would leave a lasting impact on these young peoples lives. I think far beyond what music can do, or one of our songs, is to get them to go on a trip. That's why we're doing it. We broke ground about two months ago. It's coming along really fast. Everything is made out of concrete blocks and plaster. So, everything is going up quick. But there is no machinery, we use nothing. They are mixing cement on the ground with shovels. So, we were there carrying buckets of cement, working, carrying concrete blocks - and it's the greatest vacation you can ever go on. Audio Adrenaline talks about the Hands and Feet project Because if you go somewhere and sit on a beach, you really just think about, "Gosh, I've got to go home - I've got so much to do!" (laugh) But when you're in Haiti carrying buckets of concrete and playing soccer with Haitian kids, you don't think about anything but those people and those buckets of concrete. It's a great cleansing for your brain and spirit - it's beautiful. My parents are there full-time. It's going to be about 10 houses and we're going to have about 8 to 10 orphans in a house. But we have big plans for it. We're also talking about doing a project in Nicaraqua. And possibly signing up with other bands to do orphanages around the world. This hopefully will be around and keep going long after Audio is dead. I'd like to continue to be the spokesperson for it and eventually - maybe 10 years from now or whatever - be connecting bands with this mission to build orphanages around the world. Much like Compassion does with supporting kids, but this would be more about putting kids out there to go build stuff - to become the hands and feet of Christ. So that's really the two-fold vision behind the project. It'll change your perspective in a heartbeat.

When you're in Haiti helping - and seeing their culture and lifestyle - how do you see the AIDS crisis affecting them or evolving?

Mark: I think the AIDS crisis in Haiti is definitely the biggest issue in Haiti right now. It's the poorest country in the world. It's the world's worst living conditions as a whole. Some people consider it fourth world. Obviously when your water is coming out of a laundrymat and a sewer - everything comes from the rivers. If you're lucky enough to get a well, you're doing pretty good there - but disease of any kind is running rampant. A lot of orphans will be AIDS babies. There are a percentage of AIDS babies now that are HIV positive when they are born, but within 18 months the HIV virus goes away. Eventually through medical treatment it can be cured for a big percentage of those. A lot of the orphans will be orphaned because of AIDS. The country is dedicated to voodoo. We look at voodoo as devil worship, "Oh these people are just Satan worshippers!" Yes and No. They believe voodoo is the worshipping of a god - just a spiritual being like Buddha or whatever religion you might fall under, but the voodoo religion is very much into drugs and alchohol, sexual debauchery. That's where a lot of the AIDS comes from - the heavy partying in the voodoo practices. Especially once a year when they do Mardi Gras, a lot of kids get orphaned during those times because of the voodoo practices. Audio Adrenaline talks about the Hands and Feet project in Haiti But it is a very real, scary religion. They will throw voodoo dolls up on your house, or there's a powder that they can blow on you to turn you into a zombie. Actually it slows down your heart rate down so much that they bury you alive. Then they have an antidote that they can inject you with that occasionally will bring someone back to life - but they just basically revive them. And because they were in a coma for so long, they become brain dead. On the rare occasion that it works, they'll go back into the village and say, "Look what I can do, I can do this to you. You need to pay tribute to me." That's kind of how the country works. It's so inbred in the culture, it's almost like capitalism in America. We're talking to people that money is not important. In America, we're thinking about our retirement plans. In Haiti, it's almost the same way. They are imbred with this voodoo culture and it's hard to get it out of their system. But I've seen a lot of people change, and a lot of miracles take place, demons cast out of people, and healings, and church growth. Beautiful children come out of these orphanages, because if you're going to reach Haiti, it's through these young kids. A generation of Christians coming out of them can change that country. So, that's why we're doing it.

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