Thank you to so many of you for enquiring about the effect of Cyclone Idai on the people in Mpasa. There were very heavy rains and floods in the weeks prior to Idai in southern Malawi, which affected many of the villages in areas bordering on Mpasa. Houses (made from mud brick or mud brick and straw) were washed away. The maize crop, which thankfully promised to be good this year after some months of rain, was cruelly washed away just before harvest. The Swedish charity, Afrogarden, with which MSP has been associated in Mpasa, has been providing disaster relief to some of the villages in the area. Amazingly, the villages in which MSP has been working were not affected, and Cyclone Idai seems to have just missed us too. It is difficult to get a clear picture of the impact of the cyclone on other parts of Malawi. The UN says that more than 80,000 people have been displaced, which is pretty dreadful, and bound to have an impact on the economy, but the numbers affected do not seem to be as high as in poor Mozambique.
More rain is forecast over the coming days. I will let you know if the picture should change.
