Mozambique: first aid arrives in Dondo community

Over 100 residents of Dondo, a coastal town in central Mozambique, received first aid ten days after Cyclone Idai.

The aid was neither from the government nor international humanitarian agencies, but, from a local oil company which came with a truck full of oil, sugar, rice and biscuits.

“We value the help we receive here very highly. We are grateful because it will satisfy our needs, because most of the people here were suffering,” said Jaime Colaco, a resident.

The crowd were mostly subsistence farmers, who said they had lost their homes, crops and animals, and were eating whatever plants they could find growing in the wild.

The depression with death toll of about 700 has wiped out the efforts of village communities that live off agriculture.

An unidentified resident confessed that famine has already hit the area.

“Food is difficult. We have nothing, the earth gives us nothing. As you can see, cassava is already rotting, maize does not dry. It’s already lost. It’s famine here.”

Mozambique is generally exposed to famine, particularly due to droughts.

The rise in water levels following the March 14 cyclone could plunge the country into another serious food crisis.