10000...

There was a little bit of excitement in the Mercy Ships outpatient clinic this morning,
As the staff realized that today was the day that we would register the ten thousandth patient.
Which child that would be wasn’t clear yet as we were still busy prioritizing the sickest children.
Sure enough at around noon time I called in a patient and noticed his ID number.
10000.
A 4 year old boy, from downtown Freetown.

Of course, to the mother and child, this meant nothing.
All they wanted was for the child to be healthy.
They waited at the gate like every other patient.
They would wait in the waiting room like all the rest.
They would be seen like any other child.
The number meant nothing.

So although, the mother and child were not aware of it, the staff was.
To us, it did have some significance.
It means we have registered 10,000 children since opening 3 years ago.
That’s a lot of children!
Many of which have come to the clinic multiple times.
And of course we all know that the new registrations will continue…