Three Days Grace may hail from Canada, but as a global touring band they've seen the power of music. This past fall, band members Matt Walst and Neil Sanderson traveled to Kenya as part of their MTN of Hope humanitarian initiative and got a firsthand look at how they could help the communities there. The band has now released a video chronicling the visit, which is being issued in coordination with World Humanitarian Day.

“We were inspired everywhere we went and by everyone we met because what we experienced isn’t what we thought it would be," says Sanderson. "I learned that poverty is not hopelessness. Hope is around every corner, sometimes you just have to look for it.”

The musicians played for local children, witnessed songs and dance routines prepared for their visit and got an up-close look at how the simplest things, suck as having bicycles for transportation or purification systems for clean drinking water, can make the biggest differences.

“When you meet communities of families and children who mostly live off $2 a day, but greet you with the biggest smiles and are so full of hope and resilience, it makes you take stock of your life and how lucky we are to be born in Canada," adds Sanderson. "We were given every resource and freedom to create opportunities at making a career as a band. Now we have an opportunity to use our career to build awareness and invite our fans from all over the world to join us at creating change to people that can use a hand up.”

The group has founded their MTN of Hope initiative, starting off by donating one dollar from every ticket sale on their fall 2018 tour toward their Kenya Project. You can learn more about how you can contribute here.

Three Days Grace, "The Kenya Project"

Courtesy of Three Days Grace

Courtesy of Three Days Grace

Courtesy of Three Days Grace

Courtesy of Three Days Grace

MTN of Hope