Cyclone Freddy

In March 2023, cyclone Freddy raged across Malawi. There were strong wind gusts and heavy rainfall, resulting in many deaths, injuries, missing persons and a lot of damage. Kwanjana, the village in which For a Change works, was also hit hard. At the time of the storm, For a Change could not reach Kwanjana because the road was impassable. After several attempts, it finally succeeded and the damage could be recorded. Many houses were damaged or collapsed, many people were without food and the road to Kwanjana was destroyed. View drone footage of the devastating impact of storm Freddy here.

Approach

After the damage was recorded, an approach was made to rebuild Kwanjana.

As shown in the video, we want to focus on 3 issues in the assistance:

First aid kits: Many people have lost everything, and therefore have nothing to eat. We want to give people a package to meet their basic needs. One package costs 30 euros.

Repairing bridge: Kwanjana is now very difficult to access, with all the consequences. We want to raise funds to repair the bridge so that we can work towards a sustainable solution. See how we realised this part of the approach here.

Building houses: previously built houses have withstood this cyclone. We want to build more of these houses, so that people have a safe place to live and in the future their house is less likely to collapse under such weather conditions. One house costs 3,500 euros. See how we are realising this part of the approach here.

First aid kits

Enough money was raised to provide about a thousand families with a first aid package. This package included food and blankets. This completed the first step of our plan of action.