By Nellie Miranda

Blantyre, March 8, Mana: Malawi Red Cross Society (MRCS) will disburse cash amounting to K200,000 in four months to 3,900 survivors of Tropical Cyclone Freddy in Blantyre who are also affected by the ongoing dry spell.

MRCS Vice President Stephen Naziri disclosed this on Thursday,  during the official launch of Lean Season Response Programme at Mtenje Primary School, Traditional Authority, Kapeni in Blantyre, saying this is meant to strengthen community capacity to cope with food insecurity while sustaining other resilience building activities.

During the launch, the MRCS disbursed K100,000 for the months of January and February and will yet to disburse K100,000 for March and April.

Naziri said the society decided to provide the cash as a way of improving household economic status so that the households should deal with food insecurity and other basic shortfalls after being affected twice by the two natural occurrences that rendered them helpless.

“We hope this money will be utilised carefully and fulfill some of their basic needs. The current dry spell has brought many challenges that require urgent attention,” said MRCS Vice President.

The MRCS with funds from different donors is implementing the four months programme in Blantyre, Chiradzulu and Zomba with a total amount of K750 million which runs from January up to April.

Speaking at the launch, one of the Beneficiaries, Stella Boniface from Ching’anda Village, Traditional Authority Kapeni expressed gratitude over the Lean Season Response Programme saying it came at a right time when hunger was at its peak.

She expressed hope that that the cash will help them to buy food and other basics items necessary for their livelihood.

“Since Cyclone Freddy, we have been facing a lot of problems such as lack of shelter and food. The dry spell worsened the situation but we appreciate the money that Malawi Red Cross has given us,” she added.

Apart from buying food, Boniface said the cash will assist in paying school fees for her children while part of the cash will help her to start small scale business.