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Save the Childrens Mandate to Respond: Overview of our response
from January to April 2015.
The remains of a CBCC that was aected by the floods in Zomba
District. Photo taken by Akuzike Ghambi, Save the Children
A child at Tizora Grain Camp in Chikwawa expressing her emotions
through art during a Save the Children camp session.Taken by Luzayo
Nyirongo, Save the Children
Intro
In Malawi, the New Year began on a celebratory note for some and
on a more insecure one for others. At the beginning of January,
heavy rains hit the Southern districts of Malawi, which caused
devastating floods in 15 of the countries districts (Nsanje,
Chikwawa, Phalombe, Zomba, Blantyre, Chiradzulu, Thyolo, Mulanje,
Balaka, Machinga, Mangochi, Ntcheu, Salima, Rumphi and Karonga)
some being worst aected than others.
On 13th January 2015, Malawis President, Peter Arthur Mutharika
made a Declaration of a State of Disaster. In response, various
clusters, being led by the Department of Disaster Management Aairs
(DoDMA) began providing food and non-food items to those
aected.
At Save the Children, a committee being led by the Senior
Manager of Humanitarian Aairs, James Lwanda was immediately set up
to address issues in the areas of Education, Child Protection, Food
Security and Agriculture, Health, Shelter and Non-Food Items (NFIs)
and Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). We have a global mandate
to respond in humanitarian situations because we are worried about
the impact of humanitarian situations on the well being of
children, said Country Director, Matthew Pickard. The organisation
has been focusing its response in the aected districts of Zomba,
Phalombe Nsanje, Chikwawa and Chiradzulu.
The following are case studies that took place in the months of
January to March 2015 on Save the Childrens response to the recent
floods that aected most of Malawis districts. These are first hand
perspectives from sta that visited various aected areas where Save
the Children is focusing its response eorts.
The Plight of the Floods on Early Childhood DevelopmentBy
Akuziki Ghambi, ECCD Facilitator Save the Children
The nation of Malawi, through several avenues and stakeholders
continue to harness integrated recovery means for the survival of
Malawians who have been aected by the recent devastating floods.
According to government records, 230,000 people have been displaced
in 15 of Malawis 28 districts. Zomba is among the countrys
districts that were aected. Wreaking havoc the scale of the
disaster has seen villages run-down, crops swept away and livestock
drowned.
In Zomba District, communities in which Save the Children
implements its Early Childhood and Development (ECD) programmes
continue to bear the brunt of the devastating rains. As a result,
child centered community programmes and the homes of community
volunteers who keep them running have been dilapidated causing
disruption to ECD programming.
For ECD, community involvement sits at the hub of its strategic
priorities, but with the recent disaster having aected as many as
726 volunteer households priorities have had to shift from their
selflessness in running childrens programmes to setting precedence
on their own survival. Just like other aected households, community
volunteers have to attend to rehabilitating their homes and fending
for their own children. As these volunteers justifiably recover,
their absence will be felt in areas of community development such
as Community Based Childcare Centres (CBCCs), parenting sessions
and the facilitation of Childrens
Corners showing that this opportunity cost is one of great
priority in the flood response.
The recent floods have aected a majority of the CBCC structures.
As a whole, there are 235 CBCCs in Save the Childrens ECD
implementing zones, 35 of which are cement structures built with
the organisations support. The remaining 200 are semi-permanent
structures that are for the most part made of mud walls and
thatched roofs. Of the semi-permanent CBCCs, 137 of them along with
a majority of their detached toilets have been badly aected, some
entirely, others partially. The ruined structures have made it
unsafe for children to learn and have raised concerns about the
toilets in regards to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
CBCCs play a vital role in the implementation of ECD programmes
almost all CBCC activities, community led meetings, Childrens
Corner sessions, growth monitoring and screening and parenting
sessions take place in CBCC structures. As a result of this sudden
impact of the floods, community programmes have had to resort to
temporary solutions. There are reports that groups are meeting in
churches, conducting lessons under trees or pretty much any random
place they can find shelter. Since being aected, 199 CBCCs have
reopened, resorting to some of these makeshift solutions.
Undoubtedly, this has greatly aected the attendance rate of
children at many CBCCs that are already facing accessibility
challenges due to poor road conditions.
Save the Childrens ECD team has been as flexible as possible in
responding to the disaster at hand. On 14th January 2015, the team
conducted a mapping exercise in the impact area of Traditional
Authority Chikowi (TA), Sub TA Ntholowa and TA MBiza. At the time
there were 2 camps, one at Chikomwe Primay School, which was
accommodating 970 households with 583 children of whom 210 were
under-five and the other camp at Kasimu Primary School
accommodating 586 households with 326 children of whom 138 were
under-five. It was reported that the children in the camps had last
taken a meal 2 days prior. In response, Save the Children provided
the camps with a tonne of VitaMeal for under-five children. In
addition, Save the Children provided support to families by opening
several of its permanent CBCC structures for shelter.
As families slowly return home from temporary shelters and
camps, there is hope for more stabilisation as development agencies
and the government continues to support the communities survival. A
majority of CBCCs are receiving health and sanitation support from
the national health cluster response who through the government and
partner agencies are distributing chlorine for disinfection and
conducting hygiene and sanitation sensitisation meetings.
Healing and Education Through Arts in CampsBy Collins Mhango,
Knowledge Management Ocer Save the Children
The scale of the disaster in the Lower Shire has wreaked havoc
on the densely populated country of Malawi, where most people
survive from subsistence farming. Crops of maize have been
destroyed, villages obliterated, homes swept away and livestock
killed.
Despite the predicament, there are children who have survived to
tell their tales. While they crowd in tents in the camps, where
there are no comforts as they might have been used to enjoying at
home, they begin to feel safe in their new families.
At Bitilinyu camp, in Nsanje District, one of the ninenteen
camps Save the Children works in, over 100 school going children
meet in the afternoon after classes.
Here they meet as one big family. They make a circle while
holding hands. They all sing and dance. Drums are heard. The noise
and the singing get louder. The excitement grows. Its time for
group psychosocial support therapies.
They get into small groups of fives. As they wait for the
activities to start, they use the time for discussing this and
that. They share stories and jokes too.
In their groups, children are engaged to start the drawing
session, drawing one incident in their lives that make them very
sad - an incident that has left a mark in their lives.
As the children start drawing, the noise subdues. There is now
total silence in this room. Everyone seems to be concentrating on
telling his or her story through arts. Later on, every one, one by
one, explains to the counselors as well as the group what they have
drawn and what it means.
The process brings mixed feelings. A few girls are seen crying.
Some boys also shed tears. They feel like they are one family now
and they open up to each other. They have found friends whom they
can share their stories with.
Most stories are very common. They draw houses being blown away,
rivers swelling, farms, livestock being swept away and loss of
their loved ones.
One girl still remembers how she lost her only brother to the
floods.
Every day I live to remember this day when I witnessed my only
brother being swept away by the floods. I was so powerless that
even when my brother asked for help, I could do nothing, she
cried.
A few boys narrate how they lost their livestock. Another young
girl, aged five narrates her ordeal.
This day I was at home when I saw people running everywhere.
When I realised what was happening, it was too late to run. So I
just climbed a tree close to our house. While in the tree I saw a
big snake coming to where I was, she narrated. Apparently the snake
was also seeking refuge in the tree.
These sessions are conducted in Children Corners that were
established at each of the camps by Save the Children. The
Psychosocial Support facilitators together with the Camp
Counsellors do the facilitation. They are a means through which the
children share their experiences and ordeals. Save the Children,
being a child-centered organisation aims to create an environment
where the children feel loved, cared for and have friends they
regain their self-esteem and feel as part of a big family,
explained Save the Childrens, Enala Kamanga.
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Save the Childrens ECD Facilitator, Enala Kamanga embracing the
rescued baby.Photo taken by Save the Children Sta
The Blind Side of the Flood DisasterBy Nomsa Taulo, Campaigns
and Communications Ocer Save the Children
While gruesome stories of how heavy rains washed away property
and in some cases took lives of people in some parts of the country
are still being told, there are some heartbreaking and yet very
interesting to the ear stories that are happening. A baby being
born in a tree, some displaced people claiming they have not yet
been assisted and so on and so forth. In February, an unaccompanied
baby was identified and successfully evacuated from Makhanga camp
the hardest to reach East Bank area in Nsanje with support from
Save the Children. The baby is now at Open Arms babies home in
Blantyre District. At the time, the baby was estimated to be
between 2 to 3 months old.
The evacuation team left Bangula around 2pm by Boat on Februray
9th and arrived at Makhanga Camp sometime around 5pm. Save the
Childrens, Enala Kamanga said the journey took longer than expected
because there were heavy winds. The baby was taken to Bangula at
around 7pm. The team quickly made arrangements to take the baby to
Open Arms childrens home.
We could not keep the baby throughout the night because we did
not have anything to feed a 3 month old baby, we could not trace
the mother who was rumored to have a mental illness and had
disappeared, said Kamanga.
Save the Childrens Child Protection Senior Manager,
Thandizolathu Kadzamira said, the East Bank cases were identified
over the weekend by the UNICEF communications team who went there
by helicopter.
The matter was referred to us and the Nsanje District Social
Welfare ocer by the UNICEF Child Protection team, for a rapid
response to be done as well as to facilitate family tracing actions
and psychosocial support. The Ministry of Gender, Children,
Disability and Social Welfare (MoGCDSW) ocials also gave us
guidance for us to quickly find an alternative care institution for
the baby, hence the finding of Open Arms while the family tracing
process was being done, added Kadzamira.
There are stories and more stories that are untold in camps;
there are babies and young children in need of help, there is us at
the end with the capability to bring change and inspire
breakthroughs in the lives of these children. The time is now!
Defilement Case at Chikali CampBy Thandizolathu Kadzamira, Child
Protection Senior Manager Save the Children
So many untold stories lying in the minds of children especially
girls; what surprises them is that their kin do not appear to be
bothered to report defilement and sexual abuse cases that are
rampantly taking place in their communities.
Children often ask themselves; is sexual abuse not a big issue
to them? Is it because they think children are their own drivers of
these problems? Amongst other reasons for not reporting is the
frustration that communities have with how these cases are handled.
People have given up, as they dont see any hope in reporting. The
common sound of wailing goes, Can you imagine? The suspect who was
picked yesterday by police has been given bail! Imagine, the
perpetrator has only been given three years imprisonment Imagine,
there is no PEP at the clinic and we were told to rush with our
girl to a bigger hospital which is far away and we need transport
money.
The story in now dierent at Chikali camp in Traditional
Authority (TA) Mlolo, which lies in the Eastern Bank of Nsanje
District, where the impact of the recent floods has left the place
impassable by road. The defilement case of a six-year-old girl was
reported in a timely manner and acted upon with seriousness. As we
speak now the perpetrator has been sentenced to nine years
imprisonment.
It was on the afternoon of 9th March 2015 when the defilement
occurred. The perpetrator was a 23-year-old man at Chikali camp.
The camp is located within a community setting and the perpetrator
sexually abused the child in a bathroom belonging to one of the
community members. It occurred when people at the camp (including
the childs parents) were busy queuing to receive food items. Her
family is amongst those who have been terribly aected by the recent
disaster with most of their belongings having been swept away by
the flash floods.
The girl reported that at first, the perpetrator appeared to be
very nice to her and even oered her something to eat. He then asked
her to follow him to the bathroom, which she did. He led her to a
random bathroom, belonging to a resident close by. The owner of the
house heard some strange noises in the bathroom. She rushed there
yelling, thinking some children were playing games inside her
bathroom only to discover a man was coming out of there with a
six-year-old girl. The man ran away leaving the girl behind as she
evidently showed signs of discomfort. The woman immediately
concluded it was a case of defilement. She screamed, alerting other
people who ran towards the scene while the Camp Civil and
Protection Committee chased the perpetrator and caught him leaving
him detained with the committee while waiting for Fatima Police to
pick him. Thereafter, he was taken to Bangula Police by boat.
The parents of the girl together with a Child Protection Worker
rushed with the girl to Makhanga Health Centre where they were told
there was no medication. They then rushed to the Police and to
Trinity Hospital in a town called Fatima, which is quite a
distance. The Child Protection Worker then alerted Save the
Childrens team in Nsanje about the incident by phone.
Through UNICEF funding, Save the Children is supporting Child
Protection Workers (CPWs) who are in hard-to-reach camps (like the
East Bank Camp) with Airtime as a mechanism to quicken reporting of
abuses. Hence the Child Protection Worker at Chikali camp was able
to report this case in a timely manner.
The girl was thoroughly examined and administered with the
necessary treatment including PEP for HIV and STIs at Trinity
Hospital. Being a Christian Health of Association of Malawi (CHAM)
hospital, all the necessary medication required was available, but
at a fee. The wounds were also dressed and due to her condition,
the girl was also admitted at the hospital for three days. Save the
Childrens team encouraged the Child Protection Worker to support
the childs family by continually following up with all proper
procedures as well as communicating any financial support
required.
Despite roads to Chikali camp being impassable, on 11th March
2015, Save the Children sta in collaboration with the Nsanje
District Social Welfare Oce (DSWO) visited Chikali camp by Boat to
follow up on the case. The group also provided some psychosocial
support through counselling to the girl, her parents and other
concerned members of the family.
UN Women in collaboration with UNICEF have assigned a pro-bono
Lawyer to follow up this case. The Lawyer has already been in touch
with the DSWO and Police at Bangula.
Sensitization was conducted on strengthening protection for the
girl to avoid traumatizing her considering the attention the family
is receiving. Teachers at Chikali Primary were also met and
discussed how the girl can be assisted while at school. VCPC,
Community Based Organizations (CBO) and camp committee members were
also sensitized on establishment of protection measures for the
girl to avoid trauma on her and the family. It was further agreed
that the committees would continue with monitoring of the situation
at the camp and sensitization on protection and combating GBV at
the camp.
On 25th March, the suspect, George Maiteni received 9 years
imprisonment with hard labour for the events that occurred at
Chikali Camp. In finally addressing the suspect, The Lordship Mr.
Masanjala explained, I have done this as a lesson to other people
who have a mind as wicked as yours. After the case, the prosecutor
thanked Save the Children for all the support rendered to the
government and the victim. Without you following up and also
providing support to the family of Kandiado, this case could have
just ended just like that in the community. We as police dont have
enough resources to be making follow ups as you have done. We
really thank you very much for your eort and commitment. We have
been losing a lot of cases in our district due to lack of support
as you have done, explained Mr. Banda.
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Humanitarian Response: Save the Children
Distribution items being loaded at Save the Childrens oce in
Zomba District headed from Traditional Authority (TA) Mwambo.Taken
by Luzayo Nyirongo, Save the Children
These pictures illustrate some of the work Save the Children and
its partners have been doing for the flood response in Malawi.
On 23rd February 2015, Save the Childrens Child Protection unit
had the honor to host Marta Santos Pais, UN Special
Items consisting of buckets, plastic plates and cups, mosquito
nets, maize and phala ready for distribution in Zomba
District.Taken by Luzayo Nyirongo, Save the Children
Asiyireni standing in front of a Save the Children distribution
point at Chinkhwangwa Primary School, Zomba District.Taken by
Luzayo Nyirongo, Save the Children
Learning materials used for CBCC sessions at camps during Save
the Childrens flood response.Taken by Luzayo Nyirongo, Save the
Children
UN Special Representative, Marta Santos Pais speaking to a crowd
of flood survivors in Chikwawa.Taken by Luzayo Nyirongo, Save the
Children
Children at a camp in Chikwawa drawing during a CBCC
session.Taken by Collins Mhango, Save the Children
The sight of a camp in T/A Mwambo next to a Save the Children
distribution point.Taken by Luzayo Nyirongo, Save the Children
A team from Save the Children wrapping up an event where they
hosted a UN Team at Tizora Grain Camp in Chikwawa.Taken by Luzayo
Nyirongo, Save the Children
Save the Childrens very own ECD Facilitator, Enala carrying her
CBCC materials after completing a camp session.Taken by Luzayo
Nyirongo, Save the Children
Marta Santos Pais, UN Special Representative of the
Secretary-General on Violence against Children bonding with
children in Chikwawa.Taken by Luzayo Nyirongo, Save the
Children
A girl from Tizora Grain Camp telling a group of viewers what
she painted during a Save the Children, Childrens Corner
session.Taken by Luzayo Nyirongo, Save the Children
A lady from Tizora Grain Bank camp in Chikwawa retelling her
story of how the floods occurred through drama.Taken by Luzayo
Nyirongo, Save the Children
Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against
Children (SRSG) who was accompanied by a team from UNICEF. They
witnessed some of Save the Childrens Child Protection initiatives
at Tizora Grain Camp in Chikwawa District. UNICEF is funding Save
the Children in its implementation of Child
Protection at camps in the districts of Nsanje and Chikwawa.
Special thanks to a host of other dignitaries who were also in
attendance: the Guest of Honour, Principal Secretary for Ministry
of Gender, Children, Disability and Social
Welfare Dr. Mary Shawa, Inspector General of Police, Mr.
Kachama, international NGO representatives including Action aid,
World Relief, local NGOs: YONECO, CRECCOM, Malawi Care, District
Health Oce and Malawi Police, District Commissioner Ms Chitete,
Paramount Chief Kyungu and Senior Chief Mkanda.
