By Lekereni Chinkhota

Salima, February 3, Mana: Communities in Salima have hailed the maize distribution initiative in the district as a good solution to their food insufficiency as the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA), through Salima District Council Disaster Risk Management Office, continues rescuing people from hunger.

Speaking at Mgwirizano Primary School, in the area of Senior Chief Pemba, Disaster Risk Management Officer for Salima, Gloria Chinangwa, said the distribution exercise is going well as there is neither duplication of beneficiaries nor corruption.

“The activity has been moving well. We have managed to distribute the maize we were allocated to various Centre’s in the district. However, we are still remaining with other Centre’s which we are yet to reach out to because we have been receiving one or two trucks a day which is delaying the exercise to sustain the number of people that are yet to receive.

“Sometimes, we are also receiving people that are not beneficiaries and this is affecting us as we have to handle their issues instead of focusing on the exercise. However, we have just received reports that many districts have completed the exercise which will put us at an advantage to start receiving more trucks that will cover many Centre’s,” Chinangwa said.

In his remarks, Group Village Headman Pemba said the relief items will benefit his people because most of them were experiencing acute hunger.

“The maize we have received will save my people from hunger that our area is experiencing. We are grateful for the initiative,” Pemba said.

A beneficiary from the area of Senior Chief Pemba, Charles Frank, said the maize will solve food insufficiency challenges his family was facing.

“We are grateful for the gesture. Now we will focus on finding other necessities more than we used to do to find only food,” he said.

Another beneficiary from Nungwana Village, Finess Mustafa, concurred with Frank that relief maize will help her family have enough food throughout the month of February.

“We used to sleep on empty stomachs if I didn’t find any casual work that would give us money to buy a cup of maize for the day. This had a negative impact on my children because they were not going to school,” she said.

So far, DoDMA has reached out to more than 7,000 households in Senior Chiefs Maganga, Kambwiri, Pemba and Salima.