Jackson

Last Friday while I was making my rounds, checking in at one of our homes, I met Jackson. Jackson is 8 years old. As soon as I saw him I could tell something was amiss. The entire left side of his face was very swollen. The orphanage director told me he had a "toothache," but it was easy to tell it has gone far beyond that, to a more serious problem. I immediately called our friend Keith Chapman a dentist (one of only 4 in the entire country) who works at Trinity Dental Clinic nearby. He suggested starting antibiotics right away and then have Jackson come into the clinic Monday morning, once some of the swelling had a chance to go down. Monday morning the orphanage director carried him to the dental clinic. One of his upper teeth was so infected it had to be extracted.

I stopped by to check on Jackson on Wednesday. He was looking great. The swelling is almost completely gone and he was laughing and playing with the other kids. When I arrived he ran up and took my hand and did not want to let it go.

Today I was planning on going in to Trinity Dental Clinic to pay the medical bill for Jackson (a whopping 120LD or about $2US). Before I had a chance to go in Keith called and said that they had decided at the clinic that they were going to treat all our orphans for free! This is exciting! A few months ago, before Trinity Dental was operational I don't even know where I would have sent a child who needed dental care. Now we have a clinic close by and guaranteed care for all of our kids.