These pictures show Father John Ng’oma, founder of Lunzu Cooperation Circle, with some of the tent dwellers whose homes were lost in the floods earlier this year.
The floods claimed more than 200 lives and left thousands of people homeless and unable to generate an income. Many of them were subsistence farmers whose dwellings, land and crops were devastated in the floods. You can see from the pictures how very barren and damaged is the land they are living on now. Many people are living in donated tents and relying on handouts to live. The work is overwhelming.
At first Father John saw it as his personal responsibility to distribute chlorine to the people to at least enable them to have drinking water. But soon he saw that he needed help and he called in the other members of Lunzu CC, who have now adopted this as a project.
When Father John put these pictures up on his Facebook page, a friend and colleague responded: “See these babies with their bloated stomachs? That’s called starvation. A common sight in Malawi. Oh I want these babies to have energy and a full and happy life like our kiddies. Please if you want to help I can personally get the funds direct to the people through my very close friend John Ng'oma he is the local minister who tirelessly works to give his life for this purpose. They are in such terrible need since the floods this year took everything including almost 200 lives. Now no clean drinking water. Oh lord !!”
Father John writes: “This is in the lower Shire, southern region, Malawi in Chikwawa district. The area was highly affected by floods due to heavy rains that washed away crops and their houses. They are now living in the tents that you seeing. Some are relocating to higher lands. Still many are in the tents as there is a lot to be done in terms of social services in the areas they are to relocate. Many people died as a result of the floods. These flood victims have no access to clean drinking water. So I try to provide them chlorine with so that they have access to clean drinking water. It is a very terrible situation.”
The Shire is the biggest river in Malawi and passes through Chikwawa district on its way to the Zambezi River. The area is very low and flat so inhabitants of are vulnerable to rising water. This is the area where over 200 people died early this year due to the swelling of the giant Shire River. Right now, people are dying of cholera due to unsafe drinking water. This is the area Father John chose to work in, introducing his initiative of providing chlorine so that the flood victims should have access to clean water.
“As a CC, I think we can reach out to these people because there is a high demand for the chlorine,” says Father John.
Father John is receiving some assistance from a friend in New Zealand through her mission called Muirson Mission Fund which has appointed John as their sole Malawi agent. Father John delivers cartons of 12 bottles of chlorine at a time to households in need.
He says: “There is need for combined effort. We want to reach out to the flood victims as Lunzu CC. We are looking for more resources to help the flood victims. There is still a long way to go.”
