“We lost all our books; the future looks bleak”

Cousins, 9-year-old Standard 3 pupil Lindise Malizani and 14-year-old Alinafe Malikita who is in Standard 7, have seen the devastation caused by mudslides in the wake of Tropical Cyclone (TC) Freddy.

On the afternoon of March 13, 2023 their house in Chimwankhunda in Blantyre was completely destroyed as nature wreaked havoc in the townships surrounding Soche Mountain.

“We witnessed everything that happened; we saw the mudslides as they came down from the mountain and swept everything in its way. We were lucky because all of us in our family managed to escape and find ourselves here at the camp,” Alinafe explains.

As people fled the devastating mudslides at Chimwankhunda town, most of them sought shelter at the two closest schools in the vicinity—Manja Primary School and Kapeni Demonstration School, rendering any form of education at the two institutions impossible.

The classes at the Kapeni Camp currently house 1,047 internally displaced persons, of which 612 are children aged under the age of 18. 

As of March 27, 2023 at least 530 schools had been affected across 15 education districts.

“At least 139,929 learners have been affected, of which 23,066 are adolescents and 1,853 are learners with disabilities and at least 307 teachers have been affected. Also, 242 schools are being used as internally displaced people camps,” the Ministry of Education said in a statement.

The Department of Disaster Management Affairs’ (DoDMA) update on the devastation caused by TC Freddy indicates that reports from the 15 affected councils, the number of displaced people is at 563, 771, with over 570 camps set to accommodate the displaced.

On Monday 27 March 2023, the death toll stood at 511, with 1,332 injuries. The number of reported missing persons was at 533.

And although the Ministry of Education has announced that schools open on March 27, 2023 that seems like a tall order as the displaced people are yet to be relocated from the affected schools.

At Kapeni Demonstration School, Lindise is worried about her education.

“It’s worrying because our friends in the other schools are learning but we are here, not making progress. It will disturb my education because this is an unexpected break. But I will work hard to catch up with everyone,” said the aspiring doctor.

On her part, Alinafe appealed for assistance to enable her and her friends to be able to get back to school.

“For instance, I and my siblings lost everything in the disaster, including all our books and uniforms that means we have to start from scratch. And if we do not get any help, our future looks bleak because I don’t think we can get through this term in our current state,” said the aspiring banker.

Lindise, who is always top of her class, says she misses school and wishes to get back to class as soon as possible.

“I miss my classmates and I really want to get back school. Even here in the camp, I want to study but there are no books so we spend the day playing with our friends,” she explained.

15-year-old Martha Mlala is a Standard 8 student at Kapeni Demonstration School who also found herself seeking shelter at her school after the mudslides ravaged her township.

“I was really geared for the final exams which we are due to write on May 17. But obviously, this disaster has disturbed our rhythm and we have to find a way of catching up when we get back to school although all our books and notes are gone,” she said.

Martha noted that some of her classmates have embarked on part-time classes to catch up on lost time, but her family does not have the resources to pay for the classes.

“I really wish I could join them and try to cover as much ground as possible before the final exams,” she said.