Tuesday, February 24, 2015

World Campers Donate Food to National Flood Response

Last Tuesday, World Camp had the honor of conveying flood response materials to representatives of the Department of Disaster Management. 
Following the historic floods that occurred in Malawi during January, World Camp initiated an online money collection to help individuals donate to the national response effort. Over the course of 10 days, individuals donated just over $900 toward the cause. World Camp contributed a little under $100 to round out the donation to $1,000. 
On February 12, Country Manager Chipingo Phiri visited the Department of Disaster Management and was able to attend a feedback meeting from the heads of each response “cluster” (the response was broken down into clusters or sectors: education was one, for instance, and water and sanitation was another). The primary take away from the meeting was that transport to flood victims remains a large obstacle. Many individuals cannot be reached except by air, so the Department of Disaster Management is working with the Army to coordinate rescue missions. 
Following the meeting, Chipingo spoke with the chairperson about how World Camp could best utilize the money we had collected and donated. The Chairman said the largest need was for relish, particularly protein-rich relishes to supplement the maize flour that was donated in large quantities. The suggested food items were soya pieces, Kapenta (a salted fish from Tanzania), and/or Usipa (a sardine-like fish eaten in Malawi).
  Over the next days, World Camp procured 60 bails of soya pieces totaling 3,000 packets, and     two bails of Kapenta, each with 400 packets. On February 17, representatives from the           Department of Disaster Management came to the World Camp office to receive the donation,   along with a flat-bed lorry to carry the materials. 
  World Camp is incredibly proud to have participated in the national response and to have   acted swiftly, completing our fundraising and donation process in just over three weeks.   Thank you so much to those that donated, we are honored you trusted us to properly channel   your money to the response efforts.
  We are currently developing a plan for how to continue to respond to the floods in the  mid-   term, with a specific focus on water safety education in the aftermath. Stay tuned – we’ll keep   you posted on our plans!

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Update: Response to Malawi Floods

In the weeks since Tropical Cyclone Bansi, Malawi has continued to suffer from severe flooding. The President of Malawi, Peter Mutharika, has declared half of the country a disaster zone and continued to request aid from NGOs and other governments alike. With 638,000 people affected and many still unaccounted for, the damage of the flooding is still to be determined. However, the Malawi government estimates the monetary cost of damage to be 46 million dollars. 
The rainy season in Malawi typically begins in late October or early November and continues into February. Each year flooding causes issues for Malawi as a result of poor infrastructure to deal with the rainy season along with the effects of deforestation. Long term watershed management is needed desperately in Malawi to prevent disasters of this magnitude in the future. Still, this year’s flooding is the “worst flooding in living memory” according to the United Nations, and it is expected to continue raining in much of Malawi for at least the next week. 
Before major infrastructure changes can occur, Malawi will need help recovering from this year’s disaster. Many crops and homes have been washed away entirely, leaving displaced families with no home or livelihood to return too even once the flooding ends. Others still, are stranded or in displacement camps which are desperately in need of more supplies. Helicopters and boats are required to rescue people who have sought high ground and been surrounded by water. Medicine, tents, clean water, and food are needed for those people who have been rescued and placed in camps. 
Approximately 200 camps for displaced people have been created since flooding began and the UN World Food Program is struggling to provide food to those in camps. This week, the WFP announced it would be scaling-up its response efforts, trying to reach an additional 160,000 people but is seeking an additional $21 million to do so. Many other NGOs are on the ground, responding to the crisis. Many have alleged that the withholding of funds to the Malawi government following the Cashgate scandal has slowed the response effort. The Preliminary Response Plan created by the government and aid agencies has been budgeted at $81 million, only a quarter of which has been received.
With the help of the international community, the people of Malawi are struggling to survive the flooding. Many people have lost family and friends as well a livestock and property.  Still, others have found strength in the support of their neighbors and the world at large. There is much to be done and Malawian determination and resilience are being tested yet again. Our thoughts are with them and we will continue to raise funds toward the response through the week: wcfloodresponse.causevox.com

Many sources were used in writing this post:

This post was written by Zoey Ponder and Emily Stallings