Empowering Cyclone Freddy Survivors to Rebuild Lives, Regain Hope

Life was the only valuable Mary Mpemba had to salvage when Cyclone Freddy induced floods hit her home in March 2023.

“It was a disaster. It happened at night. We were caught unawares. Priority was to save my family. Nothing more,” she says.

Mary, a mother of six, lost everything that she possessed. Her house was brought down to zero by the floods.

She lives at Chidothi village, Traditional Authority Mwambo in Zomba district.

“We spent the whole night outside the house. Thank God no one got injured or died. Food, clothes, kitchenware and beddings were all washed away. By the grace of God, we were saved and we only thank God for that,” she says.

For a living, she works on people’s farms, farming, and sometimes she orders and sells fish from Lake Chilwa. But all these sources of income are gone at the hands of the cyclone.

“With what happened, everything was lost. I do not have the capital that I can order fish any more. Some land is still in water that we cannot work on now. It will take time for the water levels to come down for us to resume our work. Life is hard,” she says.

When the disaster hit the district, Mary, just like any other survivor, sought refuge at the evacuation camp where she says life was even tough.

“Support hardly came by from well-wishers. This other day, we got information that we needed to register our particulars to be supported by Save the Children. Hesitantly, I registered but I was not sure if this was real.

“Thank God it worked. Save the Children came with various support; food and nonfood items,” she says.

Among the items that she received from Save the children was K50, 000 cash. To her, this came as a miracle.

“When I got the cash, some well-wishers helped me with bricks because I wanted to renovate my demolished house. I used the money for the renovation work and part of it I bought food for some days.

“We have been sleeping here the whole family [pointing to an old dilapidated house]. I have now renovated my house which you are seeing over there. At least I can afford some shelter. I thank God for Save the Children. Without them, I don’t know where I would have been now. My life has changed,” she said.

Mary is one example of many people who were devastated by the cyclone in the district.

Chimwemwe evacuation camp chairperson, Lexon Tandwe, says his camp alone accommodates 374 people.

“The floods brought in numerous challenges as they occurred unexpectedly at night. People had no chance to save their properties. Priority was to save lives. Everything else was left and got washed away. This brought in several challenges.

“Save the Children, initially, came with food items such as sugar and flour. This was a starter pack and saved the lives of the people. Then, they came with a social cash transfer programme. Since then, lives started transforming as it gave the people hope to live again. Some people are using the money to buy food while some are using the money to renovate their houses,” he says.

Tandwe says the area was hard hit because it is located between Likangala and Thondwe rivers “which burst and all the water flooded here. It was dangerous and by the grace of God that we were saved.”

Zomba Senior Health Surveillance Assistant, Fresco Masuku, says with the aid of Save the Children, they are providing mobile clinics to the survivors in the Area of Traditional Authority Mwambo.

“We are providing health education to the people on prevention of several diseases such diarrhea and malnutrition. We also direct them to receive medical treatment from doctors when they are diagnosed with various diseases and infections such as malaria and skin infections.

“We also screen under five children on malnutrition and other diseases, lactating mothers and we also direct them to places where they get further treatment,” he said.

The district’s assistant fisheries officer, Great Munthali, says the damage in the district was so huge that the council alone could not manage to address it.

“We had close to 26, 000 people who were affected by the cyclone and we could not reach them all by ourselves. With the coming in of Save the Children, the council was relieved. To us, it was a plus.

“On child protection, children were affected psychologically but Save the Children helped to rebuild them through the children's corner. In terms of water and sanitation, properties were lost but Save the Children distributed buckets and other sanitary items. They also lost food items but Save the Children supported them with cash and flour to support them,” he said.

Save the Children Senior Operations Manager, Thoko Bema, says they are implementing several integrated interventions in health and nutrition, protection, education, wash and resilience.

“Broadly, for now, we want to support the people to recover from the effects of Cyclone Freddy. They were in camps and they are transitioned into their homes so we are working with them to ensure that they restore their lives to rebuild and develop some resilience. We are targeting over 1, 000 households in Zomba,” he said.

Bema is impressed with the progress made because “the areas where we were allocated, we have seen a lot of changes in terms of children being able to access nutrition, protection and also making sure that they are transitioned back into their homes.”

Save the Children received £200, 000 from the Scottish Government to support Cyclone Freddy interventions in Zomba district.

According to Bema, the funding has significantly enhanced Save the Children’s ability to provide access to improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WAS) services, nutrition, healthcare and psychosocial support.

“In addition, we have intensified efforts to ensure uninterrupted access to education, protection from exploitation and abuse and family reunification for separated children,” he said.