"...when you helped the least of these, you also helped me."

It was 11:30 p.m. last Tuesday night when we heard a knock on the door. Wondering who could possibly want to visit at such a late time, my host mom opened the door, a bit frustrated. A lady holding a baby stood there. She came inside and sat down and began explaining her reason for coming. My host mom is a leader in the village council, so when people have problems, they come to her or another leader.
She went on to explain that she was walking to her home when she heard a baby crying. After following the sound, she found the baby alone in an abandoned house. Unsure of what to do or how to handle the situation, she came to our house. After explaining the situation, the lady gave the baby to my mom and left.

Trying to digest what had just been presented to her, my mom knew she needed to meet his immediate needs before taking any further action. She boiled some milk and made milk to for him to drink. He looked very malnourished, dirty, and acted very hungry; he had probably not been fed in a couple of days. She then bathed him. My mom cared for this complete stranger as if he were her own child.
In both the Faith and Action and African Traditional Religions classes, we have discussed the strong sense of African community. I have experienced this to be true many times during my Mukono and Kapchorwa homestays, but this was different. This specific experience made an impression on me like none of the others. The little baby was not a part of her immediate community, neither did she know him from anywhere. Many people may have thought of this situation as nothing extraordinary, but it struck me as a different type of community I had not yet experienced here.

He slept with mom in her bed; he got up and cried throughout the night as all hungry babies do!! Needless to say, none of us got any sleep Monday night. But it was totally worth it. On Tuesday, Mom called the police to report him, but the police didn’t help. At all. Luckily, the lady who brought him Monday night found some relatives of the baby. They came and got him Tuesday night! I was sad to see the little guy leave, but I knew he was going to family members who would care for him.

This expression of community was meeting the needs of a stranger who could not care for himself. He had been abandoned and was alone, hungry, and dirty with no one to help him. Watching how my host mom reacted to the situation was wonderful; she did not shy away from this filthy stranger; she lovingly took him in with embrace. I felt as if I were watching Jesus reach out to those the world had abandoned. At that moment I realized that my community is not just the village I live in with people I know. My community can be anyone whom I meet who is in need.