Malawi Flooding

This year has started out with a challenge for the people of Malawi.  Shortly after we left Malawi January 8th the rains became very heavy for the eastern and southern portions of the Country.  They continued for over a week which led to heavy flooding.  15 of the 27 Districts in the country were declared as disaster areas by the President.  The flooded areas were in the north, along the eastern boundary with Mozambique and heavily in the south.  20% of the surface area of Malawi is covered by Lake Malawi which lies along the northern 2/3rds of the country's border.  If that had been habitable land area it probably would also have been flooded.  The southern portion, that was hit the hardest, is a low delta area that has the Shire River running through it as the river heads to the Mozambique Channel of the Indian Ocean.  We had the opportunity this week to visit in the Southern part of Malawi and help a friend deliver some blankets and mosquito nets to some of the 200,000 Malawians that have been displaced from their homes.  Below is a picture of part of the area in the Chikwawa District that we viewed as we descended from the plateau north of the lower delta.  In the picture you can see the Shire river and some large brown areas.  Those used to be green fields but are now areas silted by the floods coming from the north.  You can also see some standing water in low areas that was left by the flood.

The people left their homes in the lower areas and fled to higher ground.  They camped in villages that were above the flooded area.  We visited a couple of groups as we assisted our friend with his distribution.  This particular group was made up of 3 different villages and included 350 families or about 1500 people.  They were organized by some of the leaders so that they could make distributions as they arrived.  They had for shelter this canopy and tent.

And the inside of an empty church building in their host village.

You can see that there is not enough space for 1500 people to keep out of the rain in these facilities but they do the best they can.  Our friend had brought 50 blankets and 50 mosquito nets to share with these people.  Some had already received some supplies from a previous donor so the leaders reviewed their list and called individuals from the group who had not received supplies.  Here are some of the recipients with their donated blankets and mosquito nets.  They only received one of the two items.

This was another group that was camped a few hundred meters away for the other group.  We did not have anything we could give them but stopped to see how they were doing.  They told us that they were running out of maize flour but still had some beans. 

Many houses were washed away by the floods so those people only have what they took with them.  Some had houses damaged or collapse due to the heavy rains.  Their houses are made out of bricks (like those in the previous pictures of the church) that they have made from mud and dried to some extent in a kiln.  Some bricks are of better quality than others.  They may be laid in cement mortar or just with mud. When the heavy rains come accompanied by a driving rain it pounds on one side of the house and if it does that long enough it destroys the wall of the house and down it comes.

We are preparing to purchase material so that we can make a delivery soon to add to their continuing need for food and protection from the elements.  You would think that this is summer in Africa because it is south of the equator but with the rains come cooler temperatures and the need for blankets at night.