By Bishop Witmos

Mangochi, June 26, Mana: Malawi Red Cross Society (MRCS) with financial support from the Danish Red Cross has embarked on distribution of cash to households in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Nankumba in Mangochi who were affected by floods following the rising levels of water bodies in the district as well as dry spells that occurred later.

The initiative is under the El Nino response programme and 718 households are expected to receive K50, 000 per month up to September this year.

Speaking during the launch of the distribution exercise at Nankhwali Primary School on Tuesday, Director of Programmes at MRCS, Prisca Chisala said the initiative aims at improving livelihood of households as most of them were rendered food insecure following the flooding and dry spells.

“The rising levels of water bodies rendered households in T/A Nankumba destitute. We want to provide them with a start-up, so that their lives should return to normalcy.

“We are implementing this programme from this month up to September where 718 households will receive a K50, 000 on a monthly basis and today they have each received K100, 000 for the first two months,” said Chisala.

He said the initiative will complement other interventions already being implemented on the ground such as distribution of food, hygiene and sanitary facilities to the affected households in the area.

Over 3, 000 households were affected by flooding due to rising levels of water bodies in Mangochi this year.

Acting Country Manager for Danish Red Cross, Nuria Beneitez said that their organization values collaboration in assisting the marginalized.

He assured MRCS of continued support in the work of creating resilience of communities against climate shocks.

One of the beneficiaries, Atupele Jali hailed MRCS for the support, saying the money will help her family recover from the hunger situation.

“The money is enough for my family to alleviate the situation which we were in and as such I am thankful to the Red Cross,” Jali said.