Harding University Tahkodah (HUT) began operating in 2003 as an intersession course as well as hosting different groups for mission simulations.
HUT is located on the Camp Tahkodah property in Floral, Ark. It serves as the location for groups from all over to experience what it would be like to do mission work in another country.
Director of HUT, Oneal Tankersley, moved back to Harding after serving in Kenya for 20 years to take the role of director.
“It’s one thing to say water is heavy,” Tankersley said. “It’s another thing to actually carry it a half a mile to your house.”
When groups come to HUT, volunteers play the part of locals from a specific country by being market owners, guards, or random people on the street. One particular volunteer, senior Addie Hayes sais she has enjoyed her time volunteering with HUT.
“Fall of 2011 I went to Harding University in Zambia, and we are required to take the HUT course,” Hayes said. “That was the first time I had ever experienced HUT. After I came back, I realized that it was a place that was having weekend retreats and that they needed volunteers.”
Hayes has been volunteering on weekends ever since then, doing things ranging from cooking to leading groups through the simulations.
“It is a really good place that fosters really good conversations that are harder to have in other places,” Hayes said. “I love the relationships I get to form there, literally lifelong friends.”
Tankersley also said one of the biggest things HUT does is give individuals a respectful view of people from different cultures.
HUT not only offers weekend retreats, but it also offers an intersession course, “development ministries,” worth three credit hours. According to Tankersley, this course is designed for people who have an interest in cross-cultural missions.
“Christians from the beginning have been known as people of mercy, so this is helping us integrate the teachings of Christianity and the practicality of Christianity together,” Tankersley said. “HUT is one way, and a very unique way, of how we teach that integration with practical skills.”
To get more involved or become a volunteer at HUT, contact Tankersley at otankersley@harding.edu.
