12-years-old Kenneth and his family used to live upland at Kachulu in Zomba district. It was almost a myth to them that flooding waters could reach them.

Little did they know what Cyclone Freddy had in stock for them on 13 March, 2023.

“We saw water flooding to the areas that nobody else thought could reach. However, this time around, the whole area was submerged.

“Houses collapsed and everything was swept away. Our house was not spared. I saw water that I have never seen before in my life,” he said.

His family might have lost everything in the Cyclone Freddy induced floods but Kenneth’s valuable worry is on the school materials which he says affected his education.

As if that was not negative enough, the displaced households also took over Kachulu Primary School as an evacuation camp. That was salt on the wound of Kenneth’s education.

“When the floods hit, houses were demolished and communities sought refuge in the classrooms which affected our education. Learning stopped.

“We used to study in a quiet environment at school but now that it was used as a camp, our studies were compromised. It was difficult for us to study,” said Kenneth, the Standard 7 learner.

Kenneth’s mother, Mercy, feared for the worst performance in her son following the disaster.

“He does well in class. He scores position 4 or 5 all the time. He only repeated standard six due to some family affairs.

“The aftermath of Freddy discouraged him in his education because schools were closed. We encouraged him, however, that all this will come to pass and he will be back to school,” she said.

Kachulu Primary School Headteacher, Willard Chikuni, attests to Kenneth’s sentiments that the disaster affected education in the area.  

He says learning was suspended at the school after the government ordered schools in the flood hit districts to close indefinitely. His school accommodated the flood survivors.

“We were heavily affected to an extent that when the government ordered schools to reopen, we could not do so because the situation was too critical here. All the seven classrooms were occupied by the survivors.

“The people also used the portable chalkboards to sleep on. They broke all of them and turned them into mats because all their possessions were swept away. We learnt about this after they had left on 15 April,” he said.

Chikuni says the tragedy occurred at a time when second term examinations were just around the corner. He says the outcome of the examinations testifies how the children were affected psychologically and their education.

“Their performance dropped that term. Number of students who passed in the first term dropped from about 50 to about 18 in the second term in some classes. This is attributed to the effects of the cyclone. Some of the parents who we have chatted with have indicated that their children are still in shock following what happened. Most of them are still affected psychologically.

“It was the first time for the children to experience such a tragedy and to live in a camp. Their belongings and learning materials were gone. Some fled the area and settled elsewhere which was difficult for the children to cope.

“As a result, they could not start school there and were coming here, an indication that they were affected psychologically,” he said.

With the funding from the Scottish Government, Save the Children started implementing various Cyclone Freddy interventions such as child protection in the area.

At Kachulu Primary School where Kenneth goes, the humanitarian organization established a children's corner to help the learners forget the scars of the disaster.

Kenneth’s mother says the corner “has helped him to pick himself back on his feet and forget the challenges that came with the cyclone.  

“I am happy for Save the Children for this and I appeal to them to spread the intervention to other areas that were also hit by the cyclone.”

Kenneth says they received learning materials and others such as football and netball balls to be used to play.

“The children’s corner helps us to meet, play and discuss things that concern us. Child labor and sexual harassment are some of the issues that we enlighten each other when we meet,” he said.

Save the Children Senior Operations Manager, Thoko Bema, says the child protection component also tackles family tracing and reuniting unaccompanied and abandoned children with their guardians and offers them psychosocial support.