KUMBANI

Madame Mary Chilima, wife to Vice-President Saulos Chilima, yesterday visited Tropical Cyclone Freddy survivors in Blantyre and Chiradzulu with a call to Malawians to join hands in alleviating their suffering.

Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the tour, she expressed sadness with the magnitude of the disaster and poor living conditions in camps.

Chilima said: “So far, I have visited four camps where the needs are enormous and we can’t even begin to comprehend the damage this cyclone has done. Lives have been lost, children are missing, people have lost everything and they need our support.”

Chilima cheers up survivors in Ndirande Township

She suggested that moving forward, the government should assist the people to relocate to safer places.

At Mthawira Parish camp in Machinjiri, Blantyre, parish priest Reverend Father Elizeo Mtharika said they opened up the place because the people had nowhere to go.

“Most of these people are members of our church and we cannot abandon them when they need us the most. Food is the major challenge. People also need clothes and we do not have enough toilets which is posing a cholera threat,” he said.

One of the supervisors at the camp, Jacqueline Samalia, said there were about 300 people at the camp, adding that women were complaining that they are losing their dignity due to lack of toilets and bathrooms.

Saidi John, a survivor at Matope Primary School camp where Chilima also visited, said they need food, beddings and clothes, especially for children.

The items Chilima donated included blankets, cooking oil, wrap-around cloth (zitenje), maize flour, sugar, salt and relish.

Most of the camps are also facing water challenges due to the intermittent water supply by both the Blantyre Water Board and Southern Region Water Board

The post Madame Chilima cheers cyclone survivors first appeared on The Nation Online.