Rebuilding hope with resilient shelter

“The sound of huge stones rolling down the mountains was similar to that of big trucks and in a few minutes, I found myself being swept away by mud,” recalls Alfred Chimenya, his eyes welling up with tears.

“Everything happened so quickly. My mind was blank. Cyclone Freddy inflicted pain on our lives,” says the father of three from Phalombe District.

Alfred is a Cyclone Freddy survivor. The cyclone, which made landfall on Southern Malawi on March 12 2023, triggered heavy rains and mudslides which washed away thousands of infrastructure, killed 767 people and injured 2 171 others.

He says pictures of his Mchenga Village under Traditional Authority Phweremwe being swept away by ravaging mudslides remain vivid in his mind.

He says: “I was saved by a tree branch that I held on to as the mudslides washed away houses in my village. I held on until I gathered courage to climb the tree when the mudslides subsided.”

At this point, Alfred was naked and his clothes were washed away.

He partly gained sanity and he thought about the whereabouts of his wife and children.

He thought his family was among those washed away, but there were loud cries all over and he did not know what to do

After an hour, he climbed down the tree. Fortunately, well-wishers from neighbouring villages that came to their rescue gave him a shirt and wrapper.

“The rescuers were pulling others from the mud. It breaks my heart every time I recall that scenario,” he says.

He was taken to a nearby church to seek shelter where he reunited with his family.

“I wept when I saw them. I was happy and emotional at the same time,” he says.

Life drastically changed for Alfred and his family from this point onwards.

Days later, they were allocated to a camp over four kilometers away from their village where huge stones now remain on bare ground.

He says: “We were left with nothing, forced to live in a cramped camp while other survivors were taken in by relatives from distant villages.”

Group Village Head Mchenga says the situation was dire.

“It was heartbreaking seeing dead people pulled out of the mud. It will traumatise me for the rest of my life,” he says.

He adds that 176 houses in Mchenga Village were washed away.

Margaret Linje from Ntauchira Village in Chiradzulu District also found herself in a similar predicament in the aftermath of the cyclone.

She lost everything, including her home and livelihood.

“Camps were a temporary refuge, but conditions were harsh and privacy was a luxury. Resources were stretched thin and it was a hard-knock life,” she says.

Luckily, just like Alfred, Margaret did not lose her family. Her daughter and grandson survived.

The single mother says this is what she is grateful for.

Several months after the ordeal, Alfred and Margaret now have permanent homes courtesy of the Malawi Red Cross Society (MRCS).

The houses are a symbol of hope and resilience.

For survivors from Ntauchira Village, their houses were built at Mikolongwe where a new Mussa Village has been created.

Those from Mchenga and other surrounding villages created a new Dozy Village.

The sturdy structures, designed to withstand future disasters, have brought a sense of security and normalcy back into beneficiaries.

They can now focus on rebuilding their livelihoods.

As you walk through the newly-built structures, children are seen playing outside, their laughter filing the air. Women are seen tending to their gardens, growing vegetables and fruits.

Men are seen repairing tools and others feed goats given to them by the charity organisation.

The sense of community and determination is profound.

Alfred got back his trade of carpentry.

Margaret, on the other hand, is kept busy by rearing goats.

“May God bless the Red Cross. I never thought I would be in my own house someday when I was living at the camp. The houses have been a huge relief,” she says.

The 136 houses, spread throughout Blantyre, Phalombe, Zomba and Chiradzulu districts, were constructed at K1.2 billion which MRCS sourced from its partners and donors.

But despite MRCS interventions, thousands of households remain in need.

According to the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma), Cyclone Freddy displaced 659 278.

MRCS communications specialist Felix Washon says while they have managed to build the 136 houses within a reasonable timeframe, points out there is still greater need to build more as hundreds of households remain affected.

He says: “We are finalising the recovery phase of Cyclone Freddy and we are happy that we have finalised construction of these 136 multihazard resilient houses for the affected people.”

Apart from the houses, MRCS also supported affected households with K2.2 billion in social cash transfers and 500 goats given to about 100 families.

Washon says they remain open to receiving support from different stakeholders to support the remaining households still displaced and affected by the cyclone.

The journey to recovery may be long and arduous, but with support, survivors can start anew.

According to Dodma’s report on the cyclone, 537 people remain missing while 63 health centres were affected, 44 roads damaged and 2.3 million people lost their crops.

Blantyre was the most affected with 434 586 followed by Mulanje with 362 135, Zomba with 322 938, Phalombe with 258 537, Mangochi with 230 373 and Chiradzulu with 191 883 affected people.

The report feather said K1.1 billion was needed for resettlement of the displaced people.

President Lazarus Chakwera appointed former presidents Bakili Muluzi and Joyce Banda as goodwill ambassadors of the Cyclone Freddy Recovery Initiative to raise funds for assistance.

They raised funds to build the houses through MRCS.

In the aftermath of the cyclone, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who visited Malawi in May last year, appealed to Southern African Development Community member states to find strategies for mitigating effects of climate change.

He said one of the strategies is to remove residents in disaster-prone areas.

He said: “Accept the move to safe areas. But as a region, we must develop strategies to assist each other to mitigate the suffering of our citizens”.