Mozambique Floods Appeals

Ambulance Service and Nutrition Centres Nurse Flood Victims to Health

Emergency Aid

Horrific pictures of mothers and children stranded on rooftops and trees for days without food and shelter became unbearable to watch as the crisis dragged on. Muslim Hands (UK) and Muslim Hands South Africa responded immediately by sending volunteers to the region.

Our primary mission to distribute food and clothing was undertaken immediately in the most affected areas of Xai-Xai, Maputo and Gaza. Based at Macia Camp near Maputo, food parcels and blankets were distributed. Each family received enough to feed a family of six for one month and also two blankets.

Housing

Many of the poor who lost their homes in the Xai-Xai region have been unable to rebuild their homes and are forced to continue living in tents covered with plastic sheeting.

Muslim Hands Low Cost House Building Programme is now underway to serve such families to rebuild or repair their homes. Each house comprises of a living room and latrine. Built from local materials such as bamboo, concrete and a zinc roof, the houses can last around 30 years.

Nutrition Centres

Many young children (aged under 5 years) were found to be suffering severe malnutrition, with bodyweights 80% or less than their normal weight. These children were kept at our Nutrition Centres, so they could be treated and monitored properly.

Each Nutrition Centre contained two large shelters, two kitchens, clean water storage systems and an ambulance for outreach work. Two full time Nutritionists were employed to administer the high energy feeding correctly and nurse the young children back to health.

Three Mobile Medical Units and an Ambulance

The roads in Mozambique are poor at the best of times but the floods destroyed what little infrastructure there had been, making the task of food distribution difficult and almost impossible in some areas.

Two ex-military four-wheel drive ambulances were sent from the UK to tackle this problem and a third ambulance was found locally. The ambulances serve as medical outreach vehicles serving remote communities who have no access to medical care. Each vehicle carries basic medicine and a medical team comprising of a qualified doctor and a nurse. The units currently serve around 10,000 families in the Xai-Xai region.

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