The Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD) has embarked on an initiative to construct transitional houses for Cyclone Freddy survivors in Nsanje.
Senior Project Officer Jane Lichapa said that her organisation is building 50 transitional shelters in the district.
She said the houses will be built in the areas of Senior Chiefs Malemia and Tengani, but did not disclose how much they will spend on the project.
“We are going to build 30 houses in the area of Group Village Headman Mwendomthengo in Tengani while 20 in the area of Group Village Headman Mambundungu in Malemia,” she said.
Lichapa said that the transitional shelters have resilient features which include widespread roof that will withstand strong winds as well as prevent rains from reaching out to the walls of the house.
“The houses have a rised foundation and verandah to ensure that the houses are not prone to destruction,” she said.
The officer further said the construction works have used the locally available materials from the communities which are easily sourced.
“People have been oriented on how to mould bricks using the device which will be for the communities as a way of capacity building,” she said.
One of the beneficiaries Million Asidi from Mphakamiso Village in the area, thanked CARD for the house which he never dreamt about.
He said his house was destroyed by Cyclone Freddy and had nowhere to sleep.
“Now I have a shelter and I am no longer worried, thanks to the organisation initiative,” he said.
Asidi has since appealed to other non-governmental organisations(NGOs) and other well-wishers to emulate the gesture set by CARD.
This is a three-year project being implemented in Chikwawa where 870 houes are being built.
The project dubbed “Early Recovery Resilience Risk Reduction (ER4)” targets people affected by Cyclone Freddy.
