Unsheltered and lonely, orphans in Mozambique cope with the country's worst flood crisis

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When severe downpours barraged Mozambique at the beginning of the year, swelling up rivers broke their banks and flooded homes, leading to mass evacuations on the southern tip of the country.

Hundreds of thousands of people were affected by the floods, while an entire urban settlement - the town of Chokwe - was forced to evacuate.

Most of the stricken people fled for the highlands, and sought shelter among family and relatives.

Most, except for a small group of children at a local Red Cross orphanage.

At Chaquelane camp in Mozambique’s southern province of Gaza, dozens of orphaned children are sheltered by the Red Cross waiting for families to host them. The children lost their Red Cross funded and built home in Chokwe after the town was marooned by the rampant flood waters.

Encouragingly, there have been some bright glimmers of charitable intent and humanity by members of the community who have adopted some of the children. However, in some cases, the orphaned children have had to be taken in by the families of volunteers from the local Red Cross here in Mozambique

Supporting these children is an important part of the Red Cross’ response to the emergency in Mozambique. The Mozambique Red Cross society has a long history of supporting orphans in this country, where the HIV pandemic has wreaked havoc.

Amelia Oessa, the Mozambique Red Cross Coordinator knows all of Chaquelane camp’s 43 orphans by name. 

She said: “We have worked with these children for years. Helping them is like helping our own family.”

Mozambique has one of the highest rates of HIV in the world. The UN estimates that 11.5% of the adult population are living with the virus and 1.6million children are living without parents.

The floods have accentuated these already significant challenges this vast southern African country faces.

Since early January 2013, heavy rains have been experienced in southern and central Mozambique.  These torrential rains subsequently caused destruction of houses, schools, health centres and crops, forcing the affected populations to leave their homes in search of safer areas.

Gaza province is the worst affected where 175,693 people have been displaced; and the town of Chokwe with its 90,000 residents was completely evacuated. The deluge has killed over 100 people and affected almost 250,000 people since January.

Experts say water levels have risen to a point comparable to the flooding disaster of 2000, which left around 800 dead.

The British Red Cross earlier this month, sent a team of sanitation experts to the country in a bid to reduce the risk of diseases such as malaria and health problems related to diarrhoea.

The team’s Mass Sanitation experts are currently stationed at Chaquelane camp, where they are building toilets and providing safe drinking water, soap and information on how to stop the spread of deadly diseases.

 

Luke Tredget is the British Red Cross Emergency Response Unit expert in Chaquelane, Mozambique.