By Faye Yu
December 26, 2024

Alefa Pinto, 37, uses a cane for walking after a childhood illness caused damage to her joints. The sole breadwinner for her three children and her late sister’s son, Alefa works with determination. However, when Cyclone Freddy swept across southern Malawi in March 2023, bringing torrential rains and fierce winds that resulted in floods and landslides that caused the destruction of homes, crops, and livelihoods, she felt discouraged. “I was terrified when the floodwater rushed into my home. I heard a wall collapsing because the water also brought down large rocks and mud from the mountain,” she shares.

Cyclone Freddy left over 650,000 people displaced. With funding from Canadian Foodgrains Bank, World Renew partnered with Word Alive Ministries to provide displaced families like Alefa’s with a monthly cash transfer for six months to purchase food and other essentials. Families also received maize seeds, pigeon peas, beans, sweet potato vines, and assorted vegetable seeds, as well as training in conservation agriculture to help address their future food needs.

“I am so thankful for the cash provided through World Renew and Word Alive,” Alefa says. “It has allowed me to buy the necessary food for my family. I have saved enough funds to keep my children in school . . . I continue to save to purchase cement mortar to complete the rebuilding of my home.”

Although Alefa planted the seeds she received, southern Malawi is experiencing drought during what should be the rainy season. “I am able to water a portion of my maize crop and vegetables by hand, using water from the [community well], so I will still get some yield from my maize field and garden crops,” she says. “I continue to pray for rain, and I have faith in God. He hears all prayers, so I remain hopeful.”