Across Chembe lowlands in Salima District, trees are burning fast as the rapidly growing population cook meals and smoke fish for a living.
The vanishing forests have left rainwater scraping topsoil into rivers, fuelling flooding.
“Every year, one to three floods destroy our homes and everything in their way, forcing the displaced to seek shelter in schools,” says Laston Mkusa, 44.
He leads Chembe Village Disaster Risk Management Committee in Traditional Authority Pemba. The group coordinates efforts to lessen the frequency and severity of natural catastrophes in the floodplain along Lake Malawi
“When disasters strike, children are among the worst affected groups, because the displaced population overcrowd classrooms in the nearest schools, denying learners the right to education for weeks or months,” he says.
Not any longer.
DAI, a UK-based charity, has constructed an evacuation centre designed to house 100 displaced families.
The emergency shelter is taking shape on a high ground to keep its occupants out of floods’ way.
This has sparked joy in the floodplain forked between Lifidzi and Linthipe rivers, which pour into Lake Malawi.
The shallow rivers flow all over the place due to massive siltation fuelled by the loss of vegetation and unregulated farming too close to their banks.
Devastating floods of 2009 killed four people in Chembe, forcing some families to move upland.
The floods have become more frequent in the past decade, starting with the episode caused by the El Nino weather pattern in January 2015.
Currently, the locals are worried about the extreme cyclones swirling from the Indian Ocean, particularly Idai in 2019, Ana and Gombe in 2022 and Freddy in March 2023.
“The cyclones bring heavy rains and strong winds that force people to flee to Chankhwa Primary School. The evacuation centre is the best fruit of Cyclone Freddy. It will help safeguard children’s right to learn and our dignity,” Nkusa states.
The centre includes storerooms and four rooms—one for men, another and the rest for young people.
Alaine Sinoya, a mother of eight in Kudambo Village, is yet to recover from the aftermaths of Cyclone Freddy which affected over 2.2 million people across southern Malawi.
She recalls: “For six days, our area received heavy rains that left swelling Lifidzi and Linthipe rivers flooding the villages between. For me, tragedy struck around 3am when I woke up to a fierce roar of floodwater and mourning of people running for their lives.
“My house collapsed in water as floods ripped everything in their way. There was no time to waste. I woke up my children and we escaped to the nearest primary school.”
The family spent a month at the crowded emergency camp, where privacy, security, sanitation, hygiene and access to water were limited.
“Life was hard, but we quickly accepted the hardship because our home, comfort and property was gone with the floodwater. It was heartbreaking to see children idling all day because we had occupied their classrooms,” she says.
Two of her children were among those displaced from class by Cyclone Freddy survivors.
“The children spent about five weeks without learning, denying them a solid foundation they need to break away from poverty. Now, I am relieved because the next floods will cause little or no disruption on their education,” says Sinoya.
The evacuation centre is part of a climate justice project which promotes tree-planting, forest conservation, a switch to irrigation and beekeeping in T/As Pemba and Ndindi in Salima.
The Scottish Government funds the initiative through DAI in partnership with Oxfam and World Relief.
World Relief economic empowerment manager Thokozani Banda says: “The project seeks to improve the livelihoods and strengthen resilience of vulnerable communities that bear the worst impacts of climate change despite contributing little to carbon emissions fuelling the global crisis.
“We hope the centre will make it easy for communities to evacuate. When disasters strike, people should have a safe space to stay without disrupting learning and compromising their dignity.
