There was no place to lay the very sick other than on mats on the earthen floor of a structure about the size of a tractor-trailer truck. One night I counted over 40 very ill in-patients and family helpers huddled into that space.
Howard F. Dowdell, a Canadian engineer and former SIM missionary, shares the realities of the old dispensary before the first male ward was built at Egbe, Nigeria in the early 1950s. When you learn that the male ward is the last standing mud building to be rebuilt on the compound, it’s easy to overlook just how innovative building construction was for that time and location.
Those weren’t ordinary mud bricks. Unlike the sun-cured bricks, Egbe’s were heat-treated which was an innovation that kept those walls standing against rain, and blistering heat for more than 80 years
That same spirit drives todays rebuild as resilience meets innovation. “Mud brick construction doesn’t allow for renovations, and termites are a huge issue,” says John Schultz, construction manager with Samaritan’s Purse/Egbe Medical Mission. “The new male ward is built entirely of concrete block, with a welded metal frame supporting the roof. We’re also wiring the building for internet through our Starlink connection. Our patient capacity is greater and for the first time, there will be private rooms.”
Eighty years ago, Howard wrote that “the clean, new building gave hope.” Because of your generosity, that hope shines bright today. Along with innovations in technology and health care, the new male ward will allow medical and surgical patients to be cared for in separate wards, reducing the risk of infection and improving patient outcomes.
Patients in crisis can’t wait. Help us build and equip the new male wardpowered by solar with today’s best innovations to serve patients in this rural region for the next 80 years.
[Give Here] and select “Build a Male Ward” from the dropdown.
Click on the video below to hear John’s construction update:
Every gift matters—large or small—each one plays a meaningful role in the impact we are able to make together.
