Zambia Sugar, World Vision aid flood victims of Chief Mwanachingwala

By LUCY PHIRI

ZAMBIA Sugar Plc and World Vision have partnered to support 345 families of Mwanachingwala village who were affected by floods and are temporarily camped at Mukuyu campsite in Mazabuka.

Meanwhile, Zambia Sugar, through World Vision, donated K300, 000 and the funds were utilised towards addressing the immediate needs of the affected families.

The visit by Zambia Sugar’s managing director, Oswald Magwenzi and World Vision chief executive officer national director Mr. John Hasse was in response to the difficult circumstances now being faced by these families displaced by the devastating flood.

With the donation, World Vision was able to cover food insecurity of the affected population.

Mr. Hasse disclosed that World Vision also procured food stuffs, such us mealie meal (1000 units x 10kg), pulses – beans (1000 units x 2kgs), High Energy Protein Supplements (200 units x 2kg), and salt (450 units x 250g) to distribute to the targeted households.

He said it also installed a piped water system providing water to more than 300 people living in the Mukuyu Temporal Camp.

Mr. Hasse stated that the piped water system was tapped from an existing water facility earlier constructed by World Vision to provide clean and safe water to Mukuyu Primary School.

“Four taps stands were constructed to enable the beneficiaries to access water throughout the day without difficulty. To promote good hygiene in and around the temporal camp, Zambia Sugar supported the construction of 5 drop whole toilets and 5 showers,” Mr Hasse said.

Furthermore, over 800 people in and around the temporal camp were reached with hygiene promotion messages to reduce the risk of disease outbreak as well as adhere to minimum sanitation requirements at household level.

In Mazabuka alone, a total of 30,394 people in and around the flood affected areas were reached with hygiene promotion messages including water and sanitation management.

According to a report by World Vision, Zambia experienced the worst flood in 50 years mostly affecting parts of Southern, Eastern, Central, and North-Western provinces with over 400,000 people (66,000 households) adversely affected in 37 districts across the country.

The report also shows that severe flooding caused damage to public infrastructure, homes, and over 150 hectares of crop land.

“The devastating effects of the floods resulted into loss of both animal and human life At the peak of the flooding, over 8,000 people (approximately 1,300 households) were displaced and living in four (4) temporal camps due to damage to their homes and flooded dwelling places. World Vision launched a US$2 million emergency response to provide life- saving assistance to about 100,000 people (16,630 households) most affected by the floods,” read the report.