Rebuilding lives after floods

With meagre earnings  from piecework, Moses Peter, 38, from Kalima Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Maseya in Chikwawa struggled to provide basic needs for his family since 2008.

 “Life has been tough,” he recalls his struggles as a breadwinner. “I was working extra hard, but the income was so little to even get us two meals a day. I failed to educate and take care of my children and wife.”

The subsistence farmer says his family used to experience perennial hunger as his food production efforts were hindered by rampant floods and uncertain rainfall patterns, among other effects of climate change.

World Food Programme (WFP), a United Nations (UN) agency that fights hunger, reports that rampant environmental degradation makes Malawi prone to climate-related disasters, especially drought and floods which erode people’s resilience and traps them in a cycle of food insecurity and poverty.

Peter says their worsening situation made him fail to source enough money for the household’s needs.

“I asked my wife to start a small-scale business to increase our household income,” he says.

The business dream faced a glitch as they lacked capital.

But a ray of hope to improve their lives shone in 2017 when WFP in partnership with World Vision Malawi rolled out a Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) initiative to eliminate debilitating poverty and address food shortages in the area.

The UKAid-funded intervention engaged Peter’s wife, Margret Beni and others from poverty-stricken households in environmental conservation as well as homestead health and hygiene activities.

Participants received a monthly incentive of K14 400.

Apart from being empowered economically, Beni says the amount instantly changed their lives for the better.

She recounts: “Peace came in the family as we could easily afford three meals a day and provide the children with most basic needs.”

The participants in the project formed village savings and loan (VSL) groups to instil financial discipline and prudence among beneficiaries. Members were also equipped with financial literacy and business management skills.

Beni joined Chiyanjano VSL group of 20 to save her earnings and obtain soft loans to pursue her entrepreneurial ideas.

“Whenever I got paid, I spent K4 400 on our needs and saved K10 000 in the group,” says the woman who has participated in the project for six years now.

The routine saw her getting a dividend of K224 000 from the group in 2017 that she used to buy goats and pigs, among other assets.

She also rehabilitated her leaky grass-thatched house to a modern four-bedroom house roofed with corrugated iron sheets.

Peter says her wife’s involvement in the project freed him from piecework that used to wear and tear his body.

“More hands are better. Our household income increased, giving me more time to strategise on working smart and helping my wife to save and invest wisely,” he says with a beaming face.

In 2018, Beni got K320 000 dividend from her savings that helped her to open a grocery shop and buy land at Bereu in Chikwawa.

The 34-year-old woman states: “We had to diversify sources of income for sustainability’s sake after the project’s duration. I am empowered that I have a say on economic decisions made in the house.”

With 2019, 2020 and 2021 dividends of K370 000, K380 000 and K395 000, in that order, they added hectares of farm land, goats, pigs and land to erect more houses for rent.

Life became great for the four-member household until January 24 2022 when floods induced by Tropical Storm Ana hit.

The family was one of the thousands whose homes and belongings were ripped and swept away by the floods in the southern Malawi.

The family took shelter at a crammed Kalima Camp alongside 366 other displaced families in the village.

But many survivors in the Lower Shire Valley districts are struggling to rebuild their lives due to hunger and poverty worsened by the tragedy, the Peters are recovering fast.

When government decommissioned the camp, Beni says his family had already bought a safer place upland to restart life.

They have built a modern five-bedroom house with corrugated iron sheets where goats, chickens and pigs are also multiplying.

Beni attributes the development to the ‘village bank’ initiative under the FFA project.

She says the village bank also helped to revive their income generating activities to sustainably recover from the disaster.

Explains the woman: “When the tragedy struck, I had K395 000 dividend from the savings I made with FFA incentives. The money allowed us to hire labourers to save some goats and pigs, among other belongings, from floods. We bought this piece of land at K120 000, and other building materials.”

The family plans to buy two cows this year and a Toyota Sienta to venture into transport business in 2024.

World Vision Chikwawa district project coordinator Mac Allan says they are happy to have contributed in building livelihoods and resilience of the underprivileged communities.

“We target about 18 783 households in five T/As. Like this family, many have registered strides in achieving long-term food security and resilience,” he says.

Elton Mgalamadzi, head of WFP Blantyre sub-office, says they are committed to involve local communities in integrated livelihoods and resilience interventions.

He says: “We strive to empower people to have better lives. We are impressed with the promoted economic welfare among beneficiaries that reduces poverty and advances sustainable development.”