Author name: IT Admin

We stand in solidarity with all the people affected by the recent Tropical Cyclone Freddy and the response teams on the ground. Habitat for Humanity has been present in Malawi since 1986. The staff has expertise in Disaster Risk Reduction and Response having responded to multiple flooding events in the same area with early recovery and long-term recovery activities, helping build back better and safer homes As well as providing on-the-ground support, the Habitat for Humanity Malawi team are also working in coordination with the Africa area office, is developing a strategy for long-term recovery efforts in the impacted region, based on Habitat for Humanity’s Pathways to Permanence approach.

Ethel Chamba, a single mother of 3 living with a chronic illness who lost her home in Cyclone Gombe, on receiving her own Nostos home told the Habitat officials, “Having a home of my own now allows me to once again believe that life can get better. My children can finally have some peace in their lives”.    Despite her young age of just 20, Esther Munyowa has experienced many setbacks and difficulties. Shortly after a divorce, she lost her home due to Cyclone Gombe and since then has no place to call a home for her and her three young children. She relies on small-scale farming and piece works to feed her family. She felt like all her prayers were answered when she saw her new Nostos home. With a strong and secure home, she can now take care of her children’s healthcare and education needs.    Merise Kengere is an 82 year old woman from M’mala village in the district of Phalombe. As an elderly woman with no stable income and surviving with the help of well-wishers, she hoped and prayed that the cyclone would spare her home. But, to her shock and dismay, Cyclone Gombe partially demolished her home. Merise had no financial means to rebuild it, she had no choice but to continue living in the house with missing walls and half a roof. Further, she is also hosting her four grandchildren whose home was also demolished. Merise longed for a home she could spend her old age comfortably in, without worrying about intruders or where to go when it rains. She has now moved into her new Nostos Home, and has found that comfort and peace she was longing for.    Enneles Maliyo, is a 64 year old woman living with her 70-year-old husband and grandchild. The family depends on pierce works and small-scale farming. The family was affected by Cyclone Gombe which damaged one part of the wall of their home. With no financial means to fix the house, they continued to live in the same house which was damaged. Their new Nostos Home is everything they had wished for and the elderly couple is extremely grateful they have a safe home they can raise their granddaughter in.    32-year -old Mwatitha Fulayela, from Njobvu village in the Phalombe District, is married with four children. They lived in a home constructed with unburnt bricks, and a grass thatched roof. The house was ventilated poorly. During the 2022 cyclone, ground water broke through in one of the bedrooms, making the house inhabitable. Due to the floodwater, the house developed big cracks and gaps in the walls. Even after the flood water receded, the house walls were very unstable with a very serious threat of collapsing, posing risk to their lives. The young family has now moved into their new Nostos Home, they no longer have to go to sleep every night anxious if the walls will cave in, killing them in their sleep. A huge weight has been lifted off their shoulders, they are finally happy.    Belita Chamba, is a 26 year old woman from the Mwango village in the Phalombe district. Belita is married and has three children. The family lost their house due to Cyclone Gombe, and they are currently living in a shack with walls constructed using grass. The family was overjoyed when they realised they would be receiving a Nostos Home.    

Traditionally victims of displacement take years to get a secure home of their own. A partnership between Nostos Homes and Habitat for Humanity in Malawi is challenging this status quo by building a community of modular homes in less than a week.  We express our deep gratitude to the Government of Malawi for their support and collaboration that made this project possible: Ethel Chamba, 35, is a single mother of three living in Mwango, a village in rural Malawi. She depends on piece work jobs and small-scale farming to earn a livelihood. Last year, just as she was finally settling in after her recent divorce, Cyclone Gombe hit her village, completely destroying her home and changing her life overnight. Being a mother of a child with a chronic illness and living near the poverty line meant that it was impossible for her to find funds to reconstruct her home. Since then, Ethel and her children have been forced to live in their grandmother’s house.  But this changed last month when a partnership between Nostos Homes, and Habitat for Humanity, the world’s largest not-for-profit builder, built a community of innovative modular homes in Phalombe, Malawi. Ethel and her family have now moved into their brand new Nostos home, made using mild steel frames and insulated PUF panels to ensure durability, wind resistance, and a 20 year lifespan. The Nostos home design achieves all of this in less than half the cost of a traditional brick and mortar house of a similar lifespan. Perhaps what is most innovative about this home though is that it was built in under a day.  Madhav Datt, Chairman of Nostos, says “It is inspiring to see displaced families in Malawi use Nostos Homes as a mechanism to rebuild their lives. The Nostos model lets us build homes in traditionally inaccessible areas where brick and mortar construction is impossible, allowing us to reach some of the most vulnerable and hard to reach communities around the world.”   These Nostos homes are modular and follow a prefabricated mode of construction. This means that all the parts, or modules, of the home are manufactured separately and then assembled at site. Think of it like a life-sized Lego set – each component plays a critical role and has been carefully designed to allow easy transportation in the disassembled form in a truck; and quick assembly, under a week for a community of 8 houses, at the deployment site after a disaster. Nostos has partnered with Modulus Homes, an innovative prefab start-up in India to manufacture the homes in their factory. These modular homes are largely location agnostic and can be deployed for forcibly displaced communities across the world. Infact, Nostos was born from a concept conceived by Kaushal Shetty, co-founder and CEO of Nostos Homes, as a solution to the displacement he witnessed every monsoon near his childhood home in Udupi, India. Kaushal says, “I realised that losing your home has negative ripple effects on the family’s livelihood, health, and education. It became clear to me that in order to sustainably break this cyclical pattern of displacement, families had to be given strong climate resistant homes quickly after a disaster”.  While the fundamentals of the home are the same irrespective of location, the design allows for easy customisations. For instance, the houses in Malawi were built on a raised platform to avoid flooding in the rains. Habitat for Humanity Malawi National Director, Anock Kapira says “In our pursuit of contributing to the alleviation of housing poverty in Malawi, exploring innovative solutions is a priority for us. We are enthusiastic to partner to bring Nostos Homes to Malawi and provide these new climate-proof and disaster-resilient homes to the most vulnerable families.” ? The Nostos community in Malawi will provide more than 350,000 nights of shelter to families like Ethel’s. Devika Narayanan, Chief of Staff of Nostos, says “These are families that are facing extremely difficult situations – for instance, many of them are single woman headed households with children living with HIV. For them, a Nostos Home is more than just a roof over their heads. It means fewer doctor visits due to better protection and sanitation, faster return to jobs and schools, and lesser harassment.” Ethel told the Habitat for Humanity Malawi officials, “Having a home of my own now allows me to once again believe that life can get better. My children can finally have some peace in their lives.” ? This partnership project received extensive support from the Malawi Government. Peter Chimangeni, Director at the Department of Disaster Management Affairs, Government of Malawi said “We are deeply appreciative of the life-changing work that Habitat for Humanity and Nostos have done for people who lost their homes in the devastation caused by Cyclone Gombe. We offer our full support in providing many more Nostos homes to displaced families in Malawi.” https://www.nostoshomes.org/phalombe-malawi

Tropical Cyclone Freddy has increased the housing poverty in Malawi. Over 183,158 have been displaced. 326 people have died, 796 injured while 201 are missing. Our hearts and thoughts are with the families that have been affected by the devastating effects of the Cyclone  

Following the effects of Tropical Cyclone Freddy (TCF), a total of 13, 099 households (approximately 58,946 people) have been affected, out of which 4,305 (approximately 19, 371 people) have been displaced, with 57 camps set to accommodate the displaced. 190 prople have died with 584 injured and 37 reported missing. TCF has affected 12 councils namely; Blantyre City, Blantyre District, Chikwawa, Chiradzulu, Machinga, Mulanje, Neno, Nsanje, Phalombe, Thyolo, Zomba City and Zomba District.

As His Execellency the State President of Malawi will be opening the 50th session of Parliament of Malawi today, Habitat for Humanity Malawi expects to hear housing solutions the government has for the homeless, vulnerable families and for those who live in slums. We also expect to see government commitments towards finalization and enactment of the Disaster Risk Management Bill which when enacted into law will increase resilience of our country towards disasters, a state which will potentially reduce the houses affected by Disasters. #SONA Malawi University Of Science and Technology Catholic Development Commission in Malawi-Lilongwe Civil Society Network on Climate Change – Cisonecc Jesuit Centre for Ecology and Development Malawi Red Cross Society – MRCS Malawi National Youth Network on Climate Change – NYNCC Council For Non Governmental Organisations In Malawi

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY MALAWI PROMOTES SAFEGUARDING CULTURE “It is an encouragement to all staff to live into safeguarding culture and to pursue it as a long-term intervention that needs ownership by all. This means incorporating safeguarding in all processes including procurement of assets and services – being able to link safeguarding to Habitat’s vision, mission and values and holding each other to account for our action. For Habitat for Humanity Malawi, safeguarding is considered important hence the appointment of two dedicated focal points and Senior management commitment to support all processes of safeguarding both internal and external.” Remarks made by the National Director during a safeguarding training for staff members. If u suspect, hear or see something, speak out!

Habitat for Humanity Malawi in collaboration with the Department of Housing under the Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development organized a preliminary review meeting of the Safer Housing Construction Guidelines handbook. The review was planned to resolve emerging issues that need to be incorporated into the guidelines to strengthen and make them more effective to meet the current Housing needs in the country. The meeting was from 7th to 8th February and was attended by stakeholders from different government and non governmental institutions such as Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development, Lilongwe District Council, Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TEVETA), Malawi Institute of Architects, Namitete Technical College, Lilongwe Department of Buildings, Malawi Red Cross Society, Catholic Relief Services. The Ministry is expected to conduct a comprehensive review of the handbook and the output of this meeting will feed into further review. Malawi Red Cross Society – MRCS Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development Catholic Development Commission in Malawi-Lilongwe

Dear Habitat for Humanity Malawi Community, Happy new year to you all! We at Habitat for Humanity in Malawi look to 2023 with eagerness and excitement, our eyes focused on building communities where everyone has a decent place to live. Yet, the year’s end also invites moments of reflection and a look back on all we have accomplished together over the past twelve months. To you—Habitat for Humanity International – Headquarters, Africa Area Office, shared services based in the EME, our US Affiliates, Tithers, Donors, Board Members, members of staff and our all-important community partners, and to those of you who support the work of Habitat for Humanity in Malawi, each of you is an essential part of the on-going ministry work. In 2022, Habitat for Humanity Malawi supported 282 families with new homes. When disasters struck, we supported 670 families with Emergency Shelter Kits (ESKs) and Non-Food Items (NFIs). We have also drilled 31 water points and constructed 167 sanitary facilities. We have reached out to 22,902 people with sanitation and hygiene practices. Habitat for Humanity Malawi has been advocating for the finalization and enactment of the Disaster Risk Management Bill which provides the legal framework for Malawi to implement resilience policies in facilitating the effective coordination, financing, and implementation of multi-sectoral programs to avert the impacts of climate change in Malawi. When the bill is enacted, it will support thousands of families access resilient homes–a change that will help exponentially more families than any one organization ever could directly serve alone. My New Year’s wish is that every one of you will take full advantage of all that Habitat for Humanity Malawi has to offer-for orphans, widows, and the homeless families that cannot access decent housing on their own—and that you will continue to support us, ensuring that Habitat for Humanity will be here in Malawi impacting many more lives through shelter for the current and for the next generation. Thank you for all the help you gave in 2022 and for being by our side in all we are hoping for in 2023. Warm regards, Anock Kapira National Director Habitat for Humanity, Habitat for Humanity Africa

Habitat for Humanity Malawi wound the year on a high note with a 2-day team building and strategy development retreat in the lakeshore district of Salima. Closing the retreat, the National Director for Habitat for Humanity Malawi Mr. Anock Kapira thanked the staff for their team commitment and dedication in serving the Malawians with housing solutions. The National Director highlighted how Habitat for Humanity Malawi in the year being concluded has successfully convened key actors and brought other organizations together to discuss housing solutions. The Director was also impressed with how the organization has directly implemented projects on addressing housing poverty. “As we appreciate what we have so far achieved, there is still more that we can do and need to start thinking outside the box. We need to make Habitat for Humanity Malawi a think tank and a thought leader in providing housing solutions in Malawi. This will require Habitat for Humanity Malawi to focus more on policy advocacy delivering convincing material and engagement to influence policy direction and support research to identify gaps and potential solutions in addressing barriers to accessing housing in Malawi and this will largely depend on teamwork. I hope the team building sessions and the conversations leading to the development of a new 5 year strategic framework have helped us to redefine a new approach to quality service delivery input from every staff and every department”, he concluded. The team building workshop emphasized on building trust with one another to be more productive on the ministry. The members of staff were also capacitated with mental health and wellness at the workplace. The staff were supported with skills on how to deal with work related stress and burn out. staff also had games and sporting events. This is happening when Habitat for Humanity Malawi has just embarked on developing its new strategic framework and the reflections made during the retreat provide useful insights into the new strategic plan which is expected to be concluded early next year.