After the floods, a mother rebuilds hope for her daughters

Palma District, Cabo Delgado – When floodwaters entered Flora Agostinho’s home in the Colarino community, there was little she could do. It was nighttime, and the water was rising quickly, and almost everything her family owned was swept away in the darkness

“What devastated me the most was seeing my food and belongings floating in the water, and there was nothing I could do; there was too much water everywhere,” says Flora, a mother of three daughters.

The heavy rains that flooded homes and displaced hundreds of families in Palma came on top of years of hardship for communities already affected by armed conflict and insecurity. For Flora and her family, the floods swept away their household items, clothes, her daughters’ school notebooks, and their food.

The floods also destroyed Flora’s crops, which she had worked hard to grow. She had hoped the harvest would provide food for her family and bring in some income from selling rice, beans, and maize.

“There is nothing left to use from this harvest because all of the rice, beans and maize I planted were ruined by the water,” she says. “I don’t know what to do now, as the water has not dried yet for me to try planting again.” it was at that moment of uncertainty that support reached her family.

With their home no longer safe, Flora and her family left to stay with her brother-in-law in another community.

“I left because I could not continue living in those conditions with children. It is not healthy for them,” she explains. The risk was especially high for her youngest daughter, who was only two weeks old.

Flora is one of many people receiving support through the UN-led Joint Response Programme (JRP). Through this coordinated response, families affected by the floods are receiving essential assistance to help them recover and begin again.

“With this support, I feel a bit calmer,” Flora says. “When I return home, I know I will have clean drinking water, food for my daughters, and pots to cook.”

The support brings together different forms of assistance based on each family’s needs. For Flora, this means food assistance from WFP to support her family to meet their basic nutrition needs after losing the harvest they relied on, hygiene and dignity kits from UNICEF to help her care for her newborn and daughters, and a shelter kit from IOM so she can rebuild a safe home to return to. Community awareness sessions on protection rights, supported by UNHCR, form part of the broader response. For Flora, the assistance does not make up for everything she has lost. But it gives her family a safer foundation from which to recover.

Stories like Flora’s show how floods and climate-related shocks are affecting families who have already faced conflict, displacement and insecurity. They also show how a coordinated response can help restore not only essential items, but also dignity, protection, and hope.