My heart aches for those who have lost everything: to the fires, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, mass shootings and other attacks, police brutality, displacement, wars… There is so much trauma, fear and pain. I’ve been seeking ways to bring my healing tools to communities that don’t have access to those resources. In April 2018, I will be helping facilitate trainings in Nepal for young girls and women rescued from sex trafficking. I’m asking for your support to help meet my fundraising goal of $5000.

My personal healing journey has taken me half way around the world and back. As a young child, finding my father dead from an unexpected heart attack sensitized me to the suffering humans endure. I determined early on I wanted to be of service to others, and consequently spent close to a decade doing humanitarian work in Asia and the Middle East.

My first and primary love was Nepal. I discovered the country as a student on a study abroad program in 1995, and was last there in 2009-2010, helping coordinate the response to floods and landslides for the United Nations. Nepal changed my life and shaped the person I am today. She opened my eyes to my privilege, and to the wastefulness I took for granted growing up in the West. She showed me generosity and love that knows no bounds. She broke my heart with her stark contrasts: breathtaking beauty side by side with horrifying inequities. She saw me through my mother’s death of a sudden heart attack when I was 25. And I walked with her through her own trauma and growth: the royal family massacre, the 10-year civil war, the populist protests that led to the collapse of the monarchy, and the continuing struggles to establish a constitutional government that represents all the people.

I left Nepal in part due to health concerns, burnout, and frustration at not being able to have a more direct impact on people’s lives. For the past seven years I have been studying and practicing alternative healing modalities. My dream is to be able to combine my passion for international work with the healing work I do now. To that end, I joined the Global Gratitude Alliance’s Safe Embrace Trauma Healing training program, which will enable me to do just that, and to continue to give back to the country that has given me so much. Next April, I’ll be traveling with GGA to Nepal, to help teach basic trauma healing and counseling skills to community leaders serving 4,000 survivors of sex trafficking. Some are girls as young as 11 years old, forced to serve up to 30 men a day.

These women and girls are rescued from their traffickers by GGA’s amazing local partner, Raksha Nepal (http://www.rakshanepal.org/). They are provided with shelter, education, and skills training - but their journey to rehabilitation is only beginning. Without healing their physical and emotional wounds, they are at risk of continuing the cycle of trauma and vulnerability. And that legacy will then be passed down to the next generation.

Your​ ​donation​ ​to​ ​Global​ ​Gratitude​ ​Alliance​ ​will​ ​help​ ​fund​ the ​training​ ​program I'll be joining in ​Nepal,​ ​as well​ ​as​ ​others around​ ​the​ ​world​ ​in​ ​Uganda,​ ​South​ ​Africa,​ ​and​ ​right​ ​here​ ​in​ ​the​ ​U.S.​ ​Please support GGA in ​helping​ ​people​ ​of​ ​color, immigrants,​ ​refugees,​ ​Muslims,​ ​LGBTQIA,​ ​and​ ​sexual​ ​violence​ ​survivors​ ​transform​ ​their​ ​pain​ ​into​ ​the power​ ​of​ ​compassion,​ ​healing,​ ​and​ ​resilience.