Interview: Rebecca Welsh On HALO–Her Vision To Help Art Liberate Orphans

Rebecca with children in Uganda

By Stacey Gualandi

“What has happened in Japan is absolutely devastating.  It reminds me of the 2004 tsunami that dramatically rose the number of orphans where we work in India.  At that time we had to quickly make space for children in need of shelter and love…Just one child losing their parents to something like this is an absolute tragedy.”—Rebecca

Rebecca Welsh knows first-hand the overwhelming desperation following a destructive tsumani.  Seven years ago, she created The HALO Foundation–Helping Art Liberate Orphans.  A HALO-supported orphanage in India provided a home for children left parentless after the 2004 tsunami.

This 31-year-old former Taekwondo World Champion is a guardian angel for many young people.   HALO continues to offer support and hope worldwide through determination, donations, and drawings!

The artwork these young boys and girls create has sold at auctions and in turn helps to fund food, shelter, education, water, and the clothes on their back.  HALO now operates in six countries, supporting 11 orphanages and counting.

Photo: Morgan Miller

A mutual friend recently introduced me to Rebecca while she was exploring a possible expansion to the West Coast.  And considering I am a student of tae-bo (taikwondo-light),  I was very interested to see how a world champion in martial arts became a champion for young children in need…

Interview: Marsha Wallace On How Dining For Women Wants to Feed the World

While meditating in 2002, Marsha Wallace had a vision: “What if every month you meet with your gal pals, you take the money that you would normally spend at a bar or restaurant, and then donate that money to help poverty-stricken women and girls half way around the world?”

“I do believe if you ask you will receive.  We’re best when we’re living with purpose.”   Marsha Wallace

Sounds like a simple concept right?  Well, that inspired idea became DINING FOR WOMEN, Marsha’s organization that now boasts over 200 chapters in the U.S. and in three countries, and has raised over $946,000 for 48 charities in developing nations.

Atlanta Dining for Women Chapter

EYE Contributor Stacey Gualandi confesses cooking is not her thing, but dining out with friends is.  And she was looking for a fun way to make a difference.   So she connected in more ways than one when she spoke to Marsha.  

Her passion, enthusiasm, and initiative was so compelling, Stacey will be starting the first DFW chapter in Hollywood, CA, in February… 

Interview: Jessica Posner On Building The First Free School For Girls In A Kenyan Slum

Jessica Posner is doing extraordinary things in a place called Kibera, Kenya.  It’s the largest slum in Africa with 1.5 million people living in squalid conditions lacking running water and electricity.

Most of the 500,000 girls under 18 in Kibera don’t get the chance to go to school.  But Jessica is making it her mission to provide free education for as many of them as she can.

Starting from square one, she and her co-founder Kennedy Odede worked nonstop to establish the Kibera School for Girls in 2009.   Their nonprofit “Shining Hope for Communities” is also opening a health care clinic there in November.

“The deck is so stacked against these people that I care about.  But I see moments of transformation, and I would do anything to help them.”

Jessica Posner

I learned about this remarkable 23-year-old graduate of Wesleyan University from Echoing Green, a global nonprofit that awards seed funds to social entrepreneurs working on bold ideas for social change.  

UPDATE 6/16/11–Jessica opened the Johanna Justin-Jinich Community Clinic  last November which Jessica tells us has already seen over 3,000 patients.  It specializes in providing primary health care for women and children.  The center is in the name of a friend, an advocate of helping those in need and whose life was taken in a campus shooting. 

I reached Jessica in Kibera working on her various projects and wanted to ask her how she ended up in Kenya launching such groundbreaking programs.    And how was she able to start the free girls’ school?…