My New Necklace.

Back in February on the first day of setting up the dental clinic it all started. As we pulled into the clinic compound I was greeted right off with a 15 year old boy who was lying on the ground with his face covered by the hood on his jacket. Under the hood the boy had a bandage covering a huge swelling on the left side of his face. The boy’s brother had brought him to the clinic in hopes that we could help. We had no supplies, no equipment, and no medicine available to provide the boy with treatment. I apologized and asked the boy to come back in 4 days time and we would see what we could do. In 4 days time it now being Thursday and the first day of us seeing patients at our clinic, the first patient that I saw in the line-up was the boy now known as Jacques. His chart holds dental patient number# 2 out of# 1137 as of today. After several visits to the dental clinic and the ship, about a month ago I had the privilege of handing him a green appointment card that reserved him a surgery spot on April 2.

Yesterday he was admitted to the ward and today he had surgery. The surgeons removed part of his mandible and cleaned out all the infected bone. When I went down to see him last night after dinner…he spotted me across the room and greeted me with a huge smile. I told him tomorrow was the day and he responded I AM READY, then he went back to playing cards enjoying life like all 15 year old boys should be. I left the ward feeling so happy, thinking back to the first day I saw him lying on the ground in such pain and today he was playing in the ward with all the other kids who are waiting for their surgeries just like he was.

Fast forward to today…. the surgery went well and today after work I went down to check on him. Today his smile was still present but not as big as the one yesterday, which was understandable given the circumstances. I asked him how he was doing and he said dàccord-ok in French. Then he sat up reached under his bed and handed me a necklace he had made me last night on the ward. I said for me and he said oui- yes.

I love my life.



The necklace