By Deogratias Mmana:
March 13, 2023, marked the beginning of trouble for Chitokolo Junior Primary School in Traditional Authority (TA) Nkhulambe in Phalombe District.
Scared by the unceasing rainfall, villagers around the school ran for their lives to the school during the night of March 13, 2023. Chitokolo School is situated on a high ground. The villagers invaded and occupied every classroom.
In the morning, some people left the school to their homes to see the devastation. But as they were there, a large mass of water took them by surprise and as some of them tried to run for their lives, the water caught up with them.
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“It was around 8am when we saw a large mass of water raging down the school carrying everything that it found in its way including people, animals, logs and what have you. I closed my eyes not to see the scene because it was scary,” Chitokolo Primary School Head teacher Patricia Makumbi says.
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While some managed to escape to the school, others sought refuge on treetops and on the third day of the cyclone, some were found dead including some learners at the school.
The school was closed for classes until the other term. The few latrines at the school made the situation even worse forcing the Ministry of Health to distribute chlorine in fear of cholera.
According to Makumbi, there are only two latrines for boys and four for girls against a total population of 1,113. There are only four classrooms and another class uses an unfinished church building as a classroom.
“There is congestion during break times as learners queue for the latrines,” Makumbi says, adding that as the villagers returned to their homes after the cyclone, the school was left in bad condition.
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Because of the pathetic situation at the school, an organisation operating in Phalombe District called CanDo came to its rescue and constructed one classroom, a storeroom and a water reservoir.
CanDo coordinator for Phalombe District Yuki Asari says the organisation has supported nine schools in the district.
“Our aim is to secure children’s education, health and safety. We focus a lot on parents and community adults to acquire the knowledge and perspectives for their children’s better growth,” Asari says.
She discloses that from December this year, the organisation will also implement another project relating to child protection at the school.
CanDo linked the school to the Japanese Embassy in Lilongwe for possible consideration for support under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects.
The organisation helped the school to prepare for the required documents and to look for quotations from contractors.
And the gods smiled at Chitokolo School. The school qualified for the grant and received $68,821 (about K70 million at that time’s exchange rate) on November 1, 2023.
Japanese ambassador to Malawi Yoichi Oya says the school has faced a lot of challenges including lack of learning facilities and inadequate infrastructure.
Oya adds that the school’s situation was worsened by the impacts of Tropical Cyclone Freddy which hit the institution and many districts in the Southern Region.
“Respect for human dignity is imperative. Education is the key component to establish human dignity. So, the Japanese Government keeps investing in the education sector,” Oya says.
According to the Ministry of Education, the cyclone left a path of destruction, especially across the Southern Region affecting teaching and learning in schools.
A Cyclone Freddy Disaster Needs Assessment shows that the education sector was among the hardest hit with over 724,800 learners out of which 368,313 were girls and 3,656 learners with disabilities.
The report shows that a total of 624 infrastructure in primary and secondary schools was damaged, giving a total value of damage and loss on the education sector at $42,087,535 (K71 billion).
Minister of Education Madalitso Wirima has commended the Japanese Government for the support given to Chitokolo School, saying it has come at the right time in facilitating fully recovery from the impact of the cyclone.
“Areas of school infrastructure and teaching and learning materials are some of the critical ones where we need more support,” Wirima said.
The Department of Disaster and Management Affairs (Dodma) Deputy Director for Disaster Response Fyawupi Mwafongo notes that the support to the school will revive a conducive environment at the institution.
Mwafongo says Cyclone Freddy destroyed a lot of infrastructure in Phalombe District, especially TA Nkhulambe.
Chitokolo school is expected to utilise the grant within 12 months.
SOME FACTS ABOUT FREDDY
- Was a very intense tropical cyclone and exceptionally long-lived, powerful and deadly
- Traversed the southern Indian Ocean for more than five weeks in February and March 2023
- Third-deadliest tropical cyclone recorded in the Southern Hemisphere, only behind 2019’s Cyclone Idai and the 1973 Flores cyclone
- Killed over 1,200 people in Malawi and displaced more than 650,000 others
- Hit Malawi, Madagascar and Mozambique, but Malawi was the hardest hit
- Impacts continue being felt by communities in the Southern Region
- Caused at least $506.7 million damage across the social, productive and infrastructure sectors in Malawi, with physical damages valued at $347.2 million and economic losses assessed at $159.5 million
- Damaged or destroyed 547 schools—including 484 primary schools and 63 secondary schools—affecting at least 273,388 learners and 586 teachers
- Turned classrooms into camps for survivors
