Day 100: Leaving Home

Leaving America can often be hugely eye-opening.  We've grown up here, and the access we have to water, food, education, and homes, seems so ordinary.  We don't think twice about where we will get food to fill our stomachs.  And the simple twist of the faucet unleashes gallons and gallons of cold clean water.  But to go away from this country, and enter another that is not as well off as our own, we then see how most of the world lives.  Unreliable electricity.  Unclean water that must be retrieved.  Many people without jobs, living in need.

The trip becomes a clarifying lens.  We suddenly are able to see clearly the blessings that we have.  Gifts.  Skills.  Resources.  Money.  When we learn and begin to understand the needs in these other places, we also can see how we are called to help.

John just returned from Africa, where he experienced this firsthand.  We've been processing his trip, and there are exciting prospects on the horizon.  Ways that we may be able to bridge our lives with theirs.  We hope to make a difference.  I'm excited to perhaps share this dream with you in the next 260 days.  

HALO, Helping Art Liberate Orphans, is an organization founded by Rebecca Neuenswander Welsh.  Another dream that was born from a trip outside of the USA, and is now flourishing. 

"In 2002, Rebecca went on a mission trip to Honduras. It was there her life took an unexpected turn.

"I encountered a girl named Daisy, she was living on the streets, she's six years old, she was begging on the streets for water," Rebecca said. "And I'm thinking how do I live a six-hour flight from here my whole life and I have no idea this is going on?"

Back home, Rebecca shared Daisy's story with kids in America. They were so moved they started fundraising - $5,000 went to orphans in Mexico. Soon, Rebecca began to receive artwork from them as a thank you.

"We had all this artwork and we decided to do an art auction," she said. "It just went over so well, because you sell a piece with a child's story and it's so powerful for people to be able to connect to that.

In 2005, Rebecca formed the charity - helping art liberate orphans - or HALO. 

"We would do art therapy with the kids and it just helped them communicate better and raise their self esteem," Rebecca said. The organization currently supports 11 orphanages around the world.

HALO also serves more than 1,000 underprivileged kids at educational centers in Kansas City and Denver. Last year, Rebecca's charity raised more than $300,000 to support the kids.

"It's about reaching out and really wanting to make a difference," she said. "Everybody wants to do something they just have to figure out how to do it."

Rebecca found that by using her own strength she was able to help build a strong life for others." CBS News


Helping Art Liberate Orphans from Ambitious Pixels on Vimeo.

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