I arrived back safely from the Democratic Republic of Congo. I feel as though I came home with many gifts. Gifts as in the voices, faces, smiles, and tears of the beautiful people I had the honor of meeting and spending time with. Visions, images, memories that will be etched in my memory for the rest of my life. I returned with art work, pictures and videos, all testaments to how very strong and powerful the human spirit truly is. The message was abundantly clear! One can be stripped of all, and yet somehow feel wealthy. Wealthy in spirit, faith, and hope! I have included some pictures from my journey. They need no explanation.
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!
When I walked in to the dark, foreboding room filled with women and children desperately waiting for their fistula procedure, it was as if a dark cloud was ominously hovering above. I walked over to one young girl and knelt down to hold her hand, gently moving the urine bag attached to her catheter. Her face was lifeless, her eyes cold and dead, her body and spirit broken. I said nothing, there were no words. Words seemed cheap. I just smiled and held her, looking into her her eyes for some hint of life, that she still might be able to hope, that she still might have some desire to live. Finally, after a few minutes, she began to hold my hand tightly and even managed a small smile.
All was explained. She had no idea who I was, or why I was there, but she knew that someone cared enough to sit and hold her. She knew at that moment that someone cared!
The workshop went fantastic! I was originally supposed to work with 450 kids and we ended up having the pleasure of working with over 1200. The day I got the chance to work with the special needs children was incredibly memorable. We painted pictures, then danced furiously to Rappers Delight and We are Family. To bear witness to those children painting and dancing for the first time was a vision I wont soon forget. The joy in the room was palpable.
I finished my workshop today in Congo and was able to work with over 1,100 children. I will send pictures of the workshop later. In the meantime, here are some children I met today:
The first girl in this picture is called Chantal. She was taken by rebels when she was six years old and held in the forest where she was raped every day for nine years by seven different men. She tried to escape three times but was captured, brought back and tortured. She was finally able to escape when she found out she was pregnant by one of the rebels, she does not know which one. When her baby was born she could not bond with the baby, because of her trauma. Her baby is now 2, and she is beginning to be able to care for her child.
It’s three in the morning here in Nairobi. We spent the day with Mapendo International today visiting some refugees here in Nairobi who were forced to flee from Darfur and Congo. The tales are harrowing. Each families story involves rape, murder, and torture. Their are over 200,000 nameless refugees here in Nairobi who were forced to flee their camps because the violence became unbearable. They are here waiting for their so-called refugee status, which could take years or not happen at all, due to the never ending miles of bureaucratic red tape. They are abused here because people who choose to take advantage are fully aware that these poor souls have no rights, hence they are thrown out on the street on a whim, extorted from, arrested without cause, etc. etc. The list goes on and on. It has been an incredibly emotional day! We are leaving for Congo in a couple of hours! More from the Congo…
My name is Lysa Heslov. This is my first blog post! I do art exchanges with at-risk kids here in the States, and internationally with children who are suffering from armed conflict. I am not an expert nor a politician, but simply a mother, and I speak with knowledge and conviction when I say that these children did not sign up for this. My philosophy is quite simple – I believe every child in our world deserves to be treated with human decency. They deserve to feel like children!
My organization, Children Mending Hearts, promotes global art exchange with these at-risk children, hopefully creating empowerment, education and empathy, thereby mending hearts and creating peace throughout the world!
Today I leave for the DR Congo to lead a scrapbook workshop, as well paint lanterns and make puppets with children there who have been the victims of sexual and gender-based violence. The scrapbooks were made here in LA at Inner-City Arts, a center for at-risk kids in downtown.
You can take part in the adventure that I and my team – Stan Barrett, Samantha Coker, filmmaker David Serota and Joey Borgogna – are embarking upon by watching for updates on our travels. We are grateful for the support of the International Medical Corps, Samaritan’s Purse, Creative Visions, and the wonderful students at Inner-City Arts who began us on our journey with the beautiful scrapbooks they made for us to share with their brothers and sisters in the Congo. See for yourself…
I had the enormous pleasure of spending some time with the unbelievably special 
