Malawians in Ireland donate to flood survivors

The Association of Malawians in Ireland (AMI) has donated various non-food items to survivors of flooding which was aggravated by a wave of Cyclones; Ana and Gombe, that wreaked havoc in Chikwawa and Nsanje earlier this year. The donation has been sent to the people through the Diocese of Chikwawa. It comes months after Bishop Rt. Rev Peter Musikuwa appealed for humanitarian aid to help alleviate the pain caused by the disaster to thousands of households.

Speaking from Ireland, AMI president Henry Mkumbira Phiri, said they have donated the items after being informed of the challenges being experienced by survivors long after the disaster struck. He says they have been receiving letters from the Diocese calling for their humanitarian intervention.

“After received letters requesting us to respond to survivors by Father Matthews Semba we mobilized resources from Malawians based here in Ireland including communities from this country and I am pleased that we have send clothes and shoes worth 850, 500 Euros which is about K9 million.

‘This is not the first time to respond because in 2021 we donated about K1.4 million for intervention of stopping further spread of Covid – 19 and currently we are constructing a house to a vulnerable woman in Mangochi only identified as Gogo-Wetu to the tune of K4 million and we anticipate to hand it over mid-November this year”

Phiri added.

The donation came with the aid of several other stakeholders including KNG Logistics which ferried the cargo for free from Ireland to Malawi and the Irish Embassy which facilitated the delivery of the items to the Diocese of Chikwawa.

Upon receiving the donation, Human Resources and Administrative Officer for the Social services Directorate of the Diocese of Chikwawa, Rosatta Lemani, expressed gratitude for the response adding that it will go a long way to address some challenges being experienced by the survivors.

Said Lemani “Despite that survivors of disasters were relocated upland they are still lacking many things ranging from food and non-food items since they lost almost everything to that disasters. So this gesture has come at right time to a survivor who is in dire need of it.”

“It is my appeal to other well – wishers to come forward to support them with food and some farm inputs so that they can plant and eventually be food secure. So you know Chikwawa and Nsanje are some of the districts facing food shortages specifically due to the disasters.”

 She said.