By Martina Schwikowski, International Federation, Mopeia
The health centre in the camp '24 de Julho', located in the district of Mopeia, is one small, white tent. About 70 people come for treatment daily from the surrounding huts. Two Mozambique Red Cross (CMV) volunteers assist the district doctor, working in shifts. They are attending to the local population in this new settlement, which is just over a month old. It was set up after the nearby Zambeze river burst its banks in early January and farmers living near the river had to flee their flooded land and homes.
Heavy rainfall aggravated the situation, and many villagers lost everything when the area was flooded. 'I felt so depressed when I saw my house under water, especially when it collapsed, and I saw my belongings floating away that night,' remembers Julio Jo, a 51-year-old farmer, now living in the camp with his wife and six children. 'I could not save anything,' he says. 'The animals died and I have no clothing left, not even shoes.' He points to his bare feet and his worn shirt: 'I used to like dressing up when going into town,' he adds with a smile.
Julio Jo is pleased that the government has given the displaced villagers a new place to live on higher, safer ground and that the Red Cross helped him to resettle. He also prefers to stay there, but he wants to go back to work his field near the river. 'The government is telling us not to go back to the river banks, but the soil here is useless,' he says. The solution to prevent people from going back to live on the river banks and avoid another crisis if the Zambeze overflows again or during the next rainy season, is to provide them with a proper house on fertile soil, says Ignacio Francisco Melo, the president of the Red Cross office in Quelimane. 'Then there would be no reason for them to go back.'
The displaced villagers' needs include tools for building proper huts with more solid roofing and seeds for planting as well as tents, jerry cans, blankets, and kitchen utensils. Mosquito nets are also essential to help prevent disease, malaria in particular, which is one of the main health problems people are facing.
The health centre is distributing medicine to treat diarrhoea and parasites. Latrines have to be built urgently - the materials are on the way and CVM volunteers will assist the community. Other needs include protective clothing for volunteers as well as first aid kits so they can provide proper first aid to people in their homes.
Water purification activities have begun thanks to a Spanish Red Cross plant powered by a generator, to clean water from the Zambeze River and produce drinking water. Twenty-three-year-old CVM volunteer Theresina Cezar has been trained to operate the machines. She is working with six other Red Cross volunteers at the station, located near the river.
The river waters have receded, and villagers are bathing again, children are playing and women are doing the laundry. The worst seems to be over. A sign warns of crocodiles in the river.
A motorbike stops at the health centre. Estevao Manual Bimo, in charge of HIV and AIDS programmes arrives, with Ignacio Francisco Melo. 'HIV is a big problem in the community. We are giving out anti-retroviral drugs here at the centre,' Bimo explains. Some 30 CVM volunteers are providing home-based care, giving out information on prevention, handing out condoms and explaining the risks of infection. But the stigma attached to the virus is making matters more complicated. 'Often people do not want to live next to sick neigbours,' he says. There are 150 patients in two camp areas, '24 de Julho' and 'Zona Verde'. 'We would like to see the HIV and AIDS programme expand and get more assistance', says Melo. 'People receiving medicine need to have food as well.'
The United Nations World Food Programme is feeding about 50.000 affected people in the seven resettlement camps and six transit centres in the Mopeia district. CVM has already delivered 236 sets of kitchen utensils, 35 tents, more than 1400 jerry cans, 475 sleeping mats and 500 mosquito nets to people living in 'Zona Verde', but for the '24 de Julho' camp, the goods have yet to arrive. They are on the way from Caia, a flooded area in the Zambeze basin where items were stocked and people also assisted during the floods.
In the meantime, the Mozambique Red Cross wants to replenish their stocks in Mopeia, in order to be able to react quickly in an emergency. 'We have only one boat to rescue people, the motor for the other one is broken,' notes Melo. Transport is a problem, says Melo, who is only able to travel with his colleague Bimo by motorbike, since he has no means of transport of his own.
The goods news is that the early warning system is in place. This time, the floods were expected and the community was warned in advance. CVM received the information via radio and the volunteers in charge went out into their respective neighbourhoods to warn the population, each using a megaphone. There are five volunteers in each community to do this job, but their capacity is limited since their only means of transport is a bicycle. 'They should have more material and access to first-hand information, at best a radio for themselves,' points out Melo.