LIFE-SAVING WORKERS: Orangeville architect Mark Hicks, pictured on the far right, is shown with the rest of the team in Galmi, Niger that is currently reconstructing a 60-year-old mud hospital. Mark Hicks, partner in Dickinson and Hicks Architecture Inc. in Orangeville, recently returned from a trip to Galmi, Niger, where he was part of a team of architects and engineers from across North America who volunteered their time with Engineering Ministries International Canada (eMiC). The team spent a week in Niger preparing the design for phase II of the SIM Galmi Hospital renovations.

“It was great, it was a very interesting experience, quite a cultural change from what we have here,” said Mr. Hicks. “They were very appreciative, so it really made the work easy and extremely rewarding.”

During his time there the team focused on developing concepts for the hospital compound which was facing the challenge of not interrupting the busy medical services still going on.

“It’s a six-phase project because we have to build it in various phases and move the people from the ward before we can demolish the original building built 60 years ago,” he said. “The original building was all mud, so it’s been reinforced but over time it’s just been deteriorating beyond the point of repair.”

This is the third time Mr. Hicks has volunteered with eMiC, and his fourth trip to Africa in the past seven years.

“There is a great need in some of these developing countries, we have some skills and expertise that can be helpful to them so when we’re invited to go it’s a way that we can make a positive contribution in a developing country that would have quite an impact on the lives of many people there,” he said.

The original building has deteriorated significantly, while the demand for increases in quality health-care in the hospital grow. In 2007 eMi sent a team to Galmi to take steps to begin phase I. The fact the proposed renovations are nearing completion was the reason for the second trip at the beginning of this year.

“We’re hoping that as we improve the conditions that the quality of life will also improve there, and restore a kind of dignity that they don’t really enjoy now because of how poor the conditions are,” said Mr. Hicks. “So you can see how it’s going to have a life-changing impact on the patients.”

According to the Galmi Hospital website, more than 100,000 people seek medical care at this hospital every year. Mr. Hicks stated that the focus on the obstetrical ward during this trip is to meet the demands of the 2000 deliveries the hospital sees per year.

According to Mr. Hicks, the most difficult part of this trip was making sure that their designs would be possible to build for the people in Niger.

“One of the things we have to do is research what’s available; we can’t just impose our construction methods and materials from here,” he said. “We have to do some research in the countries to make sure that materials are available and economical for them and they do have trades that can actually do the work.”

They will be renovating with modern materials, making their own concrete blocks on site. They will also be using more contemporary materials that are available there.

“We get kind of spoiled with all the different materials and different ways we can implement materials into our buildings here, but there you have to keep it really simple not only in terms of materials that are available but in their ability to build it,” said Mr. Hicks.

He says one of the biggest changes from the last time he was in Africa was being able to interact with the people who will be benefiting from the improved conditions a renovation will provide.

“This time we got to interact with real people, real patients, as we walked through the hospital, and could see the existing wards and the people in the active environment,” he said. “It really provided additional motivation for us to do the job well and try to fast-track the various phases of the hospital so we could improve the conditions.”

He says one reason he was so keen to join this particular team was its proximity to a site that he had previously volunteered on.

In Danja, Niger, Mr. Hicks was part of a team who were building an addition to a leprosy centre for women who suffer from obstetric fistula.

“In the Sahel region, because of the culture the young girls get married very young, some of them as early as 11, 12, 13 years old. They have babies very young and as a result they are not fully developed so the delivery is often very long and painful for them. In that process the baby gets wedged or stuck creating a fistula,” said Mr. Hicks.

He said that because of the stigma attached to this type of injury, women are ostracized from their communities because they do not know how to deal with the issue. They estimate that currently over 2 million women are currently suffering from this in Africa.

“This fistula centre when it’s operational will perform the surgeries on these women – a very simple surgery – and enable them to get back into society,” he said.

“Seeing that in place as realizing the impact it’s going to have on these women was very significant for me.”

The centre is set to be completed in April.

Mr. Hicks has been working in architecture since 1985, and has been with Dickinson and Hicks Architecture since 1994.

“It’s amazing that all these people from different backgrounds and different experiences come together so quickly and so well in order to tackle the problems and the issues,” he said. “It’s extremely rewarding to be able to use your experience and education to accomplish something good like that.”