- This story is an eyewitness report from Ilha de Mozambique when the Jokwe cyclone hit. Two Dutch girls on a four month tour of Mozambique and Madagascar, we had backpacks stuffed with all the supplies travellers need, essential and non-essential alike: malaria pills, insect repellent, maps, guide books, a Portuguese phrase book, dozens of toothbrushes, hundreds of pens. But all this planning counted for nothing when we found ourselves, on Ilha de Mozambique, caught in a cyclone. There had been clues the night before. We had intended to cross by boat from the island, to Chocas Mar on the mainland, but tumultuous rain and thunder, scudding boomerang shaped clouds overhead, made us thin…

- It is 12 days since the tail of cyclone Jokwe battered the coast of Mossuril before smashing its way across much of the rest of Mozambique, leaving an estimated 176.000 homeless in its wake. The Cabaceiras have 511 houses severely damaged, 153 totally destroyed and over half the villagers are now homeless. Some places, like the town of Angoche further South, have been hit harder, but few places were as poor to start with as villages such as Cabaceira Pequena, or Lunga (which was 90% ruined) so most of the villagers have zero reserves. As heavy rains continue, more houses collapse every day. On the morning of the cyclone, as soon as it was safe to venture out doors, students an…