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!