#CaravanOfHope Day 1: Story in Pictures Solidarity Visit to Nzedi Community Catholic Development Commission in Malawi -National Office Habitat for Humanity Malawi Tamba Africa Social Circus Muti Arts Exchange Malawi National Youth Network on Climate Change – NYNCC #CaravanOfHope #weareinthistogether

*** Standing Houses in Malawi  *** Yesterday we received some wonderful news from Malawi that we don’t want to withhold from you: “Shortly after Cyclone Freddy, Habitat for Humanity Malawi was able to survey 300 houses – funded by Germany after Cyclone Idai – with the help of the Regional Disaster Protection Committee: None of the houses show structural damage! Communities used the homes as rescue centers after the cyclone, and some people who have lost their homes completely are still housed in the homes. “

Civil Society Network on Climate Change – Cisonecc with support from Concern Worldwide Malawi, Trocaire and Christian Aid Malawi has organized a Press Briefing on the state of the 2023 Draft Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Bill which was circulated to Members of Parliament on 5th April 2023, pending to be taken to August House for deliberations this week. On Saturday, 8th April 2023, CISONECC with the partners held a Stakeholders Consultative Meeting with Parliamentarians on the Draft DRM Bill where the CSOs presented their amendments to the draft bill. During the press briefing, the CSOs are expected to share their key inputs to the 2023 Draft DRM Bill. Habitat for Humanity Malawi Association of Environmental Journalists in Malawi (AEJ-Malawi) Malawi Government DAPP Malawi

In July 2021, Habitat for Humanity (HFHM) with funding from the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) implemented a Disaster Recovery Project which was aimed at supporting housing needs to families that were displaced by the impact of Cyclone ldai in Zomba and Phalombe Districts. The project received a grant from the Japanese and Chinese Governments and built 380 flood -resilient housing units for the most vulnerable disaster affected families. The project was implemented in 8 communities of Traditional Authorities Mwambo, Ngwelero, Chikowi and Malemia in Zomba and Nkhulambe, Jenala, Mkhumba and Kaduya in Phalombe. In 2023, after the effects of Cyclone Freddy, UNDP visited communities to appreciate the effects of the Cyclone Freddy on these houses and the article published by Nation News Paper on Tuesday April 4, 2023, carries it all. It is comforting to learn that these houses acted like mini rescue centers and hosted many more families who were displaced by Cyclone Freddy. Cyclones are investable but with safer housing construction guidelines, the effects of the disasters may be minimized on the housing units. Investing in resilient housing is one of the sustainable ways of capacitating communities prone to disasters. #BuildBackBetterandStronger! #buildbackbetter

Habitat for Humanity Malawi joined the Youth in Climate Change and Environmental Sector in delivering a petition to the Parliament of Malawi calling for the urgent tabling and enactment of the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Bill during the current 50th parliament session. If the bill can be enacted into law, disasters may be inevitable but the extend of damage can be avoided! The petition was delivered in coalition with Malawi National Youth Network on Climate Change – NYNCC Jesuit Centre for Ecology and Development, Jesuit Centre for Ecology and Development, Malawi Human Rights Youth Network, Association of Environmental Journalists in Malawi, Initiative for Climate Action and Development, Go Green Save the Environment, Conserve with Benefit, Center for Community and Youth Development and Movement Environmental Action.

Today, 25 March 2025, Habitat for Humanity Malawi is convening with the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Climate Change to get updates on the progress of the enactment and finalization of the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) bill. Present at this meeting are Members of Parliament, representatives from the Ministry of Justice, Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA), Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST), Civil Society Network of Climate Change (CISONECC), Jesuit Center for Ecology and Sustainable Development (JSED), Concern World World and other stakeholders .

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