By Andrew Hughes

In 2011, I was traveling in San Jose for meetings at eBay, getting ready for my sabbatical in Africa. However instead of driving to the airport to fly home, I drove myself to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy.  Half a year and several infections later, I rescheduled my sabbatical, uneasy about traveling with a constant pain in my abdomen.

The first weeks of sabbatical were tough. I couldn’t enjoy myself, convinced that I had a life threatening gastroenterological disease, despite the doctors confirming that I was fine. And, then I arrived in Ethiopia. I was there to research projects to support through The Gracias Foundation, the nonprofit that I was about to launch (now called Global Gratitude Alliance). The kids we spent time with there are all HIV positive. Most are also orphans who have watched their mothers and fathers wither away in front of them. For the younger ones, you wouldn’t know about their stories just by looking at them. Like all kids, their laughter is music – they just want someone to share it with. For the older ones, the sadness in their eyes is deep. And, the uncertainty they have about the future is real.

Is it possible for your heart to break and open at the same time?

Yes.

3 Musketeers Children’s Fund was founded by Brian and Maria O’Shea to honor the memory of their beloved children Søren (11 years old), Saoirse (9 years old) and Connor (3 years old) who died tragically in a car crash one year ago.

The fund’s aim is to support projects improving health, education, and safety for children in countries where no other alternatives are available to them.

Saoirse would have celebrated another birthday last week.  To honor her, the 3 Mustketeers are funding new beds, lunch boxes, and exercise books for the Maisha orphans in Kenya.

We are so grateful to 3 Musketeers and so deeply moved by their story… as are the children at Maisha who met co-founder Brian O’Shea when he visited the Maisha home earlier this year. 

“I was so sad when he told us about his family,” said one of the Maisha boys, “He is a very good man.”

We can’t think of a more beautiful way to commemorate the O’Shea children than by giving love and light to less fortunate children around the world.  Thank you to 3 Musketeers for your grace, generosity, and inspiration. 

We love eBay. Not just because many of our co-founders first met each other as eBay employees. Not just because eBay provides a way to reuse and recycle while empowering social opportunity for small entrepreneurs to compete in the global marketplace. And, not just because its motto "People are generally good" is also a shared belief at the core of our work in the world.

We also love eBay because of its philanthropic values. 

We are so proud to be selected by the eBay Bay Area GIVE Team as a recipient of an eBay Foundation grant for our project in Ethiopia which provides vocational training to young adults who are HIV positive. The youth have been taking classes this summer from hairdressing to computer maintenance, food preparation, and more, learning valuable skills about hard work, commitment, time management, and what it means to be a good employee.  

More importantly, however, the program, gives them a chance to build self-esteem, gain the tools needed to make positive life choices, and eventually pave the road to self-dependence.

A big Ethiopian Ameseginalehu (Thank You in Amharic, the local language)!

Check out the press release below (or click here to download).

(Reposted from The Gracias Foundation, now called Global Gratitude Alliance)

We are the proud recipients of a generous grant from Stanford University's Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society!  

After a rigorous vetting process led by students as part of a course called "Theories of Civil Society, Philanthropy, and the Nonprofit Sector," The Gracias Foundation was selected based on its trauma healing program for survivors of sexual and gender based violence.  Stanford students also chose to grant additional funding for building capacity and growing the impact of The Gracias Foundation.

Gracias President, Amy Paulson, accepted the grant in June at an event on the Stanford campus, together with students, class and department faculty, and six other Bay Area nonprofits who also received grants this year.

Thank you to Stanford University for believing in the efficacy of our work! We are deeply honored and humbled to receive this grant award. Read on for the Press Release

We are so excited to announce a new partnership with RetailMeNot to support the sustainable housing project for the Maisha children's home.

"We at RetailMeNot are incredibly proud to support The Gracias Foundation and the Maisha Home for Children in Nairobi," said Giulio Montemagno, SVP of International at RetailMeNot, Inc, and a regular volunteer at Maisha.   "We have witnessed first-hand the caring and safe environment the Foundation has provided for the children and the incredibly positive impact this had on their lives, empowering them to overcome past traumas, restoring hope and enabling them to pursue their dreams."

The housing project is already underway. We expect the project to complete by early 2015. Checkout our Facebook page for regular photo updates.

A warm-hearted Asante Sana from The Gracias Foundation and all the kids and staff at Maisha!  We are forever grateful for your support! Read on for the official press release below...

(Reposted from The Gracias Foundation, now called Global Gratitude Alliance)

We are deeply honored to announce a partnership with MoneyGram Foundation to empower the Maisha children in Kenya with secondary tuition, academic tutoring, a computer lab, and support for a new boarding house for the existing kids and the next generation of Maisha scholars.

"MoneyGram believes education transforms lives, and the foundation is privileged to work with worthy organizations that are providing life-changing education programs to those who need them the most," said Pamela H. Patsley, chairman and chief executive officer, MoneyGram.

School tuition and tutoring support will span the next 5 years, while the computer lab and boarding house projects will commence this year.  

A huge thank you to MoneyGram Foundation for their commitment to empowering quality education for children around the world. Asante sana! Please read on for the press release below...

(Reposted from The Gracias Foundation, now called Global Gratitude Alliance)

Since 2009, our own Vice President and Co-Founder, Elayne Doughty, MA, MFT has been working with local trainers to help heal traumas endured by survivors of sexual torture in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Nominated by the eBay Switzerland GIVE Team, the Gracias Foundation was recently awarded a $7,000 grant by the eBay Foundation to continue Elayne's capacity building program called Safe Embrace Trauma Healing (SETH) at a safe house and healing facility for sexual violence survivors in Bukavu.

Thank you eBay GIVE Team and the eBay Foundation!

Read more about the SETH program