The first flooding occurred on 4 March when the Lunga Island and swamps were submerged after five days of torrential rain. The second flooding took place on 23 March when the whole of Lake Bangweulu expanded beyond its shores.
We have been supporting a school on the island and also some work to help the fishermen convert to agriculture. The road between Samfya and the village where our main partner lives was washed out and all the homes in the village went under water.
This flood was unexpected and is unusual as the people have been settled near the lake for a very long time. The people needed to evacuate and have now moved to higher ground. The flooding is across 700 square kilometres. To date, 3,000 people have been displaced from Lunga, 1,500 from Samfya and 1,500 from Chilubi.
Message from our partner:
"Greetings and how are you? It has been raining heavily in Samfya and the bridge that connects us to the rest of the country has been washed away. We also have floods inside around the houses. The situation is bad."
The world's attention is on the coronavirus but this flooding is a humanitarian disaster needing attention. The Zambian government and some larger agencies will try to provide some food and shelter for the displaced. The government needs to re-instate the road. Our approach as a smaller charity is always to target the people, who we know are caught up in the crisis. With the backdrop of the large statistics we act relationally and specifically with the aim of re-empowering our partners.
Because of water and sanitation issues there is an immediate need for 7,000 Zambia Kwacha (£350) to provide some basic hygiene. Our partner is capable to assist many others once they can get personally organised. Of course much larger sums of money could be put to good use (see below).
Penelope, from Samfya, writes:
"About 5,000 people were displaced. Many houses are destroyed and some people are staying at a local school in the higher ground. It is not easy to cope, especially when it happened at a time when Covid-19 has taken much of the attention. I, myself and family, plan to stay where we have shifted to as it is much more safe. There is a lot of challenge when you shift with no proper sanitation. We found a house on higher ground which is for sale, so we are buying it but then it does not have a latrine nor a well. So we plan to put this in place as this can be our new permanent structure/home.
Chief Kasoma Lunga was unwell and in a short period of time he died. I think maybe he was also worried about the situation as all the crops are destroyed and there is hunger. So we lost our chief.
So many people are affected and it is not easy to cope with the new life style. If you publish this, the first sort of help that people need is food and shelter. Following the pandemic that have befallen us it is difficult, and they also need water and proper sanitation. If we can be helped financially so that we can also help the many families that are affected. If I were to be assisted financially I can be able to acquire shelter. People here mainly depend on cassava and the flooding has destroyed the crops. Most of the crops are submerged."
Because of coronavirus a 25 kilogram bag of maize(mealie meal) now costs 230 Zambian Kwacha (=£11.50). This is the staple food for Zambians. If you are able to help with a donation of £12 then we will send the money to allow a family to have food at a time when they have lost their crops.If you are able to help you can donate here to Afrinspire via PayPal Giving who will not charge for processing your donation.
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