“How could I not be affected?”

Our guest blogger, Mike Dimond, is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Fox Sports North and a good friend of Feed My Starving Children. In September 2011, he traveled to Haiti along with his son and three FMSC staff members to visit FMSC distribution partners.

When I first reached out to inquire about a trip with Feed My Starving Children, I did so for selfish reasons. My son Zach, a recent college graduate, was trying to find his way, and I felt a trip like this would provide perspective on the world and his place in it. As we drew closer to the trip, I realized that I needed to prepare my heart for the change God had in store for me as well.

I had certain expectations. It was going to be hot, it might be dangerous, and there would be mosquitoes and bugs. Only one of those came true in our brief encounter with Haiti. During the day it was very warm, but in the morning and evening, it was very pleasant and Haiti is a beautiful country.

There are also things you don’t expect: to be greeted with a hug from every child upon our arrival at Love A Child (an FMSC mission partner); to be welcomed with a song, hugs and kisses from the children at MABO orphanage in Port Au Prince; to realize how critically important the MannaPacks are to the survival of so many people; and how much effort and infrastructure it takes to deliver those boxes of food to those in need.

When you participate in a packing event back in Minnesota, you have a good feeling about yourself. You feel like you have done a good thing and you have. What you don’t realize is the full impact of each one of those bags of food. Every bag goes directly to families who need it: to the kids with orange hair (a sign of malnutrition) in the village of LeTant, to the children in MABO orphanage who were rescued from Cité Soleil (a slum in Port-au-Prince), and to the littlest babies whose mothers walked a whole day just to get that bag of food.

To say that I was affected by this trip is an understatement. When I placed a 35-pound box of food on the head of an 8-year-old boy to carry, when I carried a box of food for a woman who lost her leg in the earthquake, when I waited for a little girl to take the rock out of her mouth so she could drink a glass of juice, and when I held an orphan and he fell asleep in my arms, how could I not be affected? But, will I allow myself to be changed and to be an instrument of change for others? I pray that is the result.

Not only is Feed My Starving Children changing the lives of millions around the world, but also the lives of hundreds of thousands back home who have taken the time to participate, either by packing food or donating funds. I am truly blessed to be one of those people that has been changed.

Have you been to Haiti or another country that changed the way you see the world? Tell us about your experience in the comments.