Our District Governor Bill Hoel passes along this appeal from our ShelterBox friends:
- Donate to: ShelterBox USA -Cyclone Idai
- Donations can be made online: www.ShelterBoxUSA.org/Donate Choose cyclone IDAI from the ‘Designation’ menu.
- By mail to ShelterBox USA, 7359 Merchant Court, Lakewood Ranch, FL 34240
- Or by wire and/or ACH funds transfer by emailing info@shelterboxusa.org
The crisis is bad, continued rain and rising floodwaters are expected to last a week or longer. Authorities are concerned about possible cholera outbreaks from dirty water.
Our response team met with the Rotary District 9210 Governor Hutchson “Hutch” Mthinda and Past District Governor Stallard Mpata, both from the Rotary Club of Lilongwe, on Friday evening to discuss plans. The team is now in Chikwawa, one of the worst-hit districts of southern Malawi. They’ve visited families living in collective centers to understand how ShelterBox can help.
There are tens of thousands of families with nowhere to call home. Most of the families have lost all their possessions in the floods. Many of them are sheltering in schools, so children are missing out on their education. Conditions are crowded and cramped, putting people at increased risk of disease, violence, and even trafficking. Emergency shelter is desperately needed, to give families space and tools to recover in privacy. We expect support may include emergency ShelterKits so families can repair or create shelter, as well as water filters and mosquito nets so families can protect themselves from diseases.
Rotary District 9210 is the most affected, covering Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. District Governor Hutchson Mthinda is in close contact with ShelterBox and has been providing local updates. We have reached out to The Rotary Club of Limbe in southern Malawi, who supported a previous ShelterBox response to flooding in 2015.
We have been closely monitoring the impact of the flooding and cyclone across the whole region, which has also affected Rotary District 9400, which covers some of South Africa, Botswana and, crucially, Maputo in southern Mozambique. We are in regular contact with Past President Bruno Maximiano do Amaral of the Rotary club of Polana in Maputo, who has worked with our teams previously and is ready to offer assistance if required.
ShelterBox is ready to support families with emergency shelter and other essential items. With your support, we can help more people.
We’re working to reach communities as soon as we can, but the devastation slows everything down. Roads and bridges are washed away, communications are down, floodwaters stay high and continuous rain hits people with the misery of more flash floods. Families who’ve seen their homes swept away are building temporary shelters with the few materials they could salvage. The challenges are frustrating, but we’re doing everything we can to get to where we’re needed.