Mossuril Museum of Slavery's Nursery School

Ever since Cyclone Idai threatened and then hit Mozambique on the 14th^st of March there have been torrential rains and we have no internet. I had to travel out of Nampula Province to send this report and our only road out of Mossuril has been closed by rain damage.

After Cyclone Idai destroyed 90% of Beira and before it turned its wrath on Zimbabwe, it was scheduled to hit Mossuril and Mozambique Island with winds of 210km per hour. But it changed direction and we were saved while other parts of Sub Saharan Africa were smashed to smithereens.  So whatever damage there has been here along the coast of Mossuril, however many trees have been uprooted and huts blown down, we all give thanks for our salvation while we reach out in spirit to the hundreds of thousands of victims of the worst weather disaster ever to hit Africa.

With power lines down and dead cell phones and the one and only road connecting Mossuril to the rest of the country washed away in places and bogged down impassably with mud in others, there was not much we could do. Yet again, our isolation was as nothing compared to that of Beira.

Much as we wanted to get out there and help, the logistics turned such thoughts to mere wishful thinking.

Back in March 2008, when Mossuril was beaten by the tail of Cyclone Jokwe, Teran Foundation was able to give both immediate and mid-term help because we were embedded in the heart of it. Back then, we set up a soup kitchen and shelter for over 200 afflicted villagers and together with Save The Children we were able to pin point over 800 families in need of immediate help. Within one week we raised 25.000 USD for cyclone relief and were able to distribute hundreds of emergency packs and help rebuild dozens of new homes.

 Sadly, Cyclone Relief from Idai’s devastation has proven to be a logistic nightmare in which most of us can only help indirectly. 8 weeks after it struck, it can no longer hold the headlines but over one million survivors still need that help from bigger charities on the ground.

In Mossuril, the mud huts of several dozen villagers had their roofs blown off and some collapsed completely. And one week later, an undermined water tower fell down and killed a woman who was getting a bucket of water. Half the roof of Mossuril Primary School  was ripped off as was the roof of Teran Foundation’s art and craft room. Closer to home, tons of rubble and iron wood beams crashed into our house as several of its flat roofs caved in under the weight of the rain.

Then while Mozambique was still reeling from the loss and shock of Idai, in a hitherto unprecedented second strike, Cyclone Kenneth headed in and razed chunks of the Northern Coast and its hinterland. It virtually flattened 80% of the houses on historic Ibo Island and caused havoc in Pemba.

Once again, Mossuril was scheduled for destruction and then saved. Once again, we feel lucky to be alive. And then in the wake of Kenneth there was yet more rain: Biblical rains hammering down night and day. I have lived in the tropics for nearly 3 decades and seen many a tropical storm but I have never seen any as heavy as these.

Now we have had three consecutive dry days and everything is drying out so quickly we can begin to take stock and to plan and dream again. So we are picking up our planned Nursery School and even though our stockpiles of cement and lime and building sand have been washed away, the shell is still standing. The ruined former slave prison has walls 80cm-deep and it has withstood dozens of cyclones and hurricanes, tornados, riots and wars.

The back of the ruined building is more vulnerable than the front because the ruin is at its most dilapidated there. Our pre-school is destined to occupy two large rooms at the back.

The day before Idai hit Beira, at around 5pm our time, a great and noisy wind swept through Mossuril literally blowing people of the street. It lasted for about ten minutes (terrifying all and sundry including your truly) before blowing out to sea with its booty of roofs and uprooted trees, fishing boats and whatever else  it managed to capture on its way.

Now that the rains have ceased and the floods here, at least, have subsided, after the local work force has cleared away the debris from their own yards and mended their own mud huts, we will finally be able to start restoring and building the much-needed nursery school.

Meanwhile, the local hospital is treating hundreds of villagers for malaria. In Mozambique, all malaria treatments are free. After the rains, the mosquitoes are everywhere. A haze of them is zizzing around my head and hands now as I type. But, as I said at the beginning, we cannot complain because we are so much better off than the people of Beira and Zambezia and Ibo and Pemba and Cabo Delgado many of whom have lost everything including their crops and 737 of whom lost their lives.

While the villagers here still need help and their kids still need their pre-school, they are not at the front of the queue (so to speak). So for those of you with a lot to donate, please help the cyclone victims of Beira  Then, if you have anything over for the Second Eleven, although our team had to sit this one out  while rain stopped play, we are raring to get back into the game.

Links:

• Before the storm
• News coverage of Cyclone Kenneth