Since doing the well project at Kumasi Children’s Hospital (see articles below), I came to know the staff, and I speak with some regularly. Over time it became increasingly clear that the next project falling into place was a much bigger one – the construction of a maternity block in this hospital.
The current situation is a sad one and it’s even more heartbreaking to see it personally. The building is evidently small compared to the needs and number of mothers and their children. Unfortunately, many are forced to leave nearly immediately after giving birth due to the next patients coming in, this added to the fact that the population is just generally increasing. For this reason the qualified staff has to hurry the work and has extremely little time for pre- or post-labor care. This leads to a number of orphans left in the care of the hospital, and many unfortunate although preventable maternal and child deaths.
I developed the project after speaking to several architects and contractors. We determined several phases:
- Evaluation of the land
- Preliminary Sketch and meeting with the hospital staff and ACWA.
- Production Design
- Establishment of supervision and estimate of Costs
- Fundraising
- Execution of the project.
Many thanks to those who have been encouraging and incredibly enthusiastic for this project!!
June 2010