I had the enormous pleasure of spending some time with the unbelievably special International Medical Corps. On one occasion we visited the Mugunga refugee camp, where 20,000 plus currently call home. We were walking through the camp when my eyes caught sight of a small boy sitting in the road with tears rolling down his cheeks. I walked over to the boy and asked what was wrong. I was told by my translator that he was hungry. My entire life, I have heard there were hungry children all over the world. I’ve seen the heartbreaking pics on television, watched videos of barely alive children, read countless stories in the papers, all of which left me feeling that I wanted to run for the tallest building, or far worse, that infamous hunger guilt feeling for having consumed blueberry pancakes for breakfast. But to sit face to face with a small child looking squarely into your eyes, and crying uncontrollably because he was hungry, brought up emotions for me which I have never experienced. It broke my heart. I could physically feel my heart hurting! Knowing full well I was making a terrible mistake, I reached into my backpack, pulled out a protein bar, and fed the child. As expected, a small riot ensued, with dozens of other hungry children grabbing me, my backpack, furiously begging for food. My IMC angel and new friend, Margaret, gave me the look, but in that moment, I didn’t care. In my head, common sense and human instinct had gotten into quite a squabble, and my instincts as a mother were overwhelmingly victorious.
Yes we can!

Peace,
Lysa Heslov

takepart with International Medical Corps