Henwood helps resettle flood victims

About 302 families that were displaced by surging waters early 2015 are struggling to rebuild their homes at their new village at Jombo in Chikwawa.

When Henwood Foundation presented some support to the area last week, it was clear that families are failing to raise permanent structures for habitation on their own, one year after the calamity had fallen on them killing over 60 people in the Shire Valley alone.

Chikwawa district commissioner (DC) Bester Mandele commended Henwood Foundation, an arm of the New Apostolic Church that has presented building materials and a borehole to people in the village, saying the assistance will help the villagers move on with their lives.

“As government, we have always been encouraging people in the flood prone areas to move upland. But these efforts are hampered by lack of adequate resources, especially social services and building materials.

“We are glad that some partners are still supporting our programmes to relocate these people to safer areas,” he said.

Henwood was supported by Nak Karitativ of Germany and the material it has been donating includes tarpaulins, hoes, brick moulds and clothing.

Henwood’s Country Projects Cordinator Ann Soko said her organisation was putting in everything to ensure a smooth resettlement process which she said was long overdue.

“For us seeing these people making a fresh start to their lives after the disaster that they faced is really refreshing. Our role has been to assist the efforts of government to make these people productive again.

“We have given these items following a needs assessment that we conducted together with council officials. It is our belief that through these efforts would yield positive results as the people at Jombo would face a promising.