On Higher Ground
Floods in the Zambese River, which run through Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique in Southern Africa, are not uncommon. In 2001, more than 800 people died in Mozambique as the rivers in southern part of the country flooded. Since then, people living near the river, where the land is most fertile, have to live with the fear of seasonal floods almost every year. Some have had to abandon their homes as often as four times in the last seven years and...
more »On Higher Ground
Floods in the Zambese River, which run through Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique in Southern Africa, are not uncommon. In 2001, more than 800 people died in Mozambique as the rivers in southern part of the country flooded. Since then, people living near the river, where the land is most fertile, have to live with the fear of seasonal floods almost every year. Some have had to abandon their homes as often as four times in the last seven years and then return to a bare earth.
The rain season in this part of the continent usually starts in December and peaks in February. This time it started early and once again the people, living near the main rivers, had to be on the move.
But this time they are not going back. My photographic project started in January as I documented the people around the Zambese and Púngui Rivers making new homes.
On 26th December 2007, 1279 people arrived to the Matua resettlement camps, located six kilometers from the Púngui river. These farmers who used to live on the banks of the river, lost most of their harvest to the overflowing waters. The chief of the agrarian community Chief Chimundo is the now head of the resettlement camps where they have now started to build permanent homes. As this is the fourth time they have had to evacuate, he says that they are tired of the floods: “We just want to make our future homes where we can grow corn, rice and mandioca [a potato like vegetable] without having the risk of floods.”
The Red Cross and other NGOs have been helping the farmers evacuate. Most of the Red Cross volunteers come from the same area and have experienced the floods first hand. They provide help with sanitation, water purification and first aid. Since cholera is always a risk in these circumstances, proper sanitation can significantly reduce the epidemic. The Red Cross also distributes mosquito nets to combat malaria, another endemic disease in Mozambique.
Although fishing is less viable now and the land is not as fertile, a future free from floods holds hope.
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