3 years after cyclone, recovery continues in Malawi

Key points:

• Phase 2 of UMCOR’s recovery initiative is delivering long-term shelter, clean water and agricultural support across cyclone-affected districts. 
• The targeted response included new homes for five vulnerable families, a community borehole, distribution of watering cans to farmers and a goat pass-on project. 
• The support combines immediate relief with sustainable rehabilitation. 

Months after Cyclone Freddy struck southern Malawi in March 2023, triggering severe flooding that killed more than 1,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands, long-term recovery work began through the United Methodist Committee on Relief. 

In response to immediate needs, the Malawi United Methodist Church, helped provide food, sanitary items, medicine, utensils and materials for temporary shelters. An initial $50,000 grant from UMCOR provided agricultural training, irrigation equipment, livestock and assistance in reconstructing community infrastructure.

Three years later, that recovery continues. 

Through the UMCOR Recovery Phase 2 grant, the Malawi Provisional Annual Conference implemented critical housing, water and agricultural interventions across severely impacted communities. 

The recovery program’s primary focus on agricultural rehabilitation aims to restore self-sufficiency to families who lost crops and livestock. 

As part of the initiative, 275 vulnerable households received goats through a community pass-on scheme. Under the agreement, each family gets livestock and then gives the first female offspring to another preselected family. 

“These goats will act as a safety net and bank in-kind for our family during emergencies,” said Linda Phoya, abeneficiary. “When we lost everything in the floods, we had no backup. Now we have a way to rebuild our lives.”

Furthermore, 1,500 individual farmers were equipped with watering cans to support small-scale dry-season irrigation. 

“With this watering can, I am now able to cultivate vegetables in my garden, even during the dry season,” said Isaac Jali, a local farmer in Zomba. “It gives me the direct tool I need to feed my family after losing our entire rain-fed maize crop.”

Access to clean drinking water also was permanently addressed for an entire village community in Balaka. In Maulukira Village, where residents from four surrounding areas previously drank from an open river contaminated with waste, UMCOR funded the drilling of a new borehole. 

“Church leaders personally visited the contaminated river site to witness the harsh conditions firsthand,” said the Rev. Daniel Mhone, Connectional Ministries director for the Malawi Provisional Conference. 

During the official handover, conference superintendent the Rev. Godfrey Gaga presented the clean water supply as “a free gift of love provided through UMCOR’s Cyclone Freddy second-phase response.”

The grant also provided permanent homes for five exceptionally vulnerable families whose shelters were destroyed.

“I previously felt completely abandoned in a dark wilderness and never imagined receiving such a sturdy, beautiful gift,”said Elisa Saliva, 30, a single mother of two in Zwaki, Nsanje. 

Ellena Sangea, 71, of Wilson, Chikwawa, called her new house “my living testimony and a precious gift from God.”

In Lazo Village, Chikwawa, Eliza Joni, 60, and her husband, Everson Sadya, 75, who is blind, were astonished by their new house. 

“It feels like a wonderful dream we never want to wake up from,” they shared. “It is a true act of divine intervention.”

Nafunea Emmanuel, 38, a mother of four in Tulsida Village, said, “This moment has restored my family’s dignity, hope and safety.”

Local leaders commended the initiative’s impact. Chief Saizi of Tulsida Village noted, “the visible presence of grace in the community.” Mbenje Traditional Authority Mariano Geremani praised seeing struggling mothers transition into secure shelters. 

“This intervention reflects the social witness of the church by addressing physical necessity alongside spiritual care,” said church lay leader Willard Maliko. 

The Rev. Ephraem Kambona, Southern District superintendent, encouraged families to cherish their homes as lasting symbols of practical compassion.

Nkhoma is a communicator in Malawi.

News media contact: Julie Dwyer at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digests.