Newborn

The very first night that I arrived in site, over a month ago now, the young mother gave birth to a newborn son. A few days later, I held this tiny new being in my arms, wrinkly and red and helpless, and thought, “When I leave here, this boy will be two years old. I will watch him make that mysterious transition from ‘baby’-- a helpless creature that does little more than cry, soil its diaper, and gurgle-- to a ‘person’, a little human being with his own very unique personality.” Looking at the little guy, so new and bewildered in a universe that had suddenly shifted so completely, I felt I could sympathize. And I thought, “we’ll figure this place out together, buddy.”