The Sunday Mail
Fatima Bulla and Belinda Mutayiwa
CHURCHES which run institutions in the southern parts of Zimbabwe are counting losses and damages suffered after a trail of destruction left by Cyclone Idai last month.
Among those affected are United Methodist and Roman Catholic Churches whose contribution to the development of local communities through provision of education facilities, hospitals and service centres is evident. According to Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference National Education Co-ordinator, Sister Annah Theresa Nyadombo, the cyclone left St Charles Lwanga High ravaged with two water tanks, a dining, kitchen and toilet blocks destroyed to ground level.
She said the Catholic run boys’ school building also has wide cracks a remembrance of the traumatic experience.
“The responsible authority of St Charles Lwanga Retired Reverend Paul Horani O’ Carm has since applied for land to relocate the school following the reasons given in the press. They have already started communicating with the Head Office of Primary and Secondary Education through an application letter to re-build the school to a safer place for students in Chimanimani area or Chipinge to establish a boarding school and a mission where the church convent and priest house will be build,” she said.
At least 171 out of a total enrolment of 258 students were boarding learners before two died in the tragedy. St Charles Lwanga, which was headed by Mr Ranganai Chikwara, expanded to a boarding school in 1999
“It’s a sad moment, loss of two students, a security guard and many lives around the area. We sympathise with those who lost their loved ones, parents of the two students and wife of the security guard.
“Many people were caught unaware by the gravity of the cyclone. We sympathise with survivors, those who are homeless and children left without parents. We hope to relocate early and rebuild the so we can continue with the boarding school. We are united in prayer for all victims and may the Lord grant eternal rest to all who died and also bless those who need our help as a nation,” she said.
After offering psycho-social support to students and parents based in Harare on March 23, Sister Nyadombo said they did not have guarantee that they would come back to the school.
“We have closed boarding school till further notice. We are seeking assistance from other boarding institutions or facilities to accommodate the students. We have started distributing some students to some Catholic schools and some parents have already secured places for their children,” she added.
Another church, The United Methodist revealed in its circular, soon after the cyclone hit, that its institutions which include Mutambara Mission, Lydia Chimonyo Mission Centre and Mhandarume were cut off from Mutare after three bridges which connect them to the city were swept away.
While the church’s Ngangu Assembly opened its building for shelter to displaced members, Mutambara Hospital had no electricity or fuel to power generators. This resulted in its inability to offer surgical procedures. United Methodist News Service reported that the mission had to ferry three bodies and hand over to waiting relatives at the strip as the mortuary had been affected.
Dr Emmanuel Mefor, a Global Ministries missionary and medical superintendent at the church-run Mutambara Mission Hospital was quoted saying the medical facility had been isolated.
“Most mudslides occurred in Chimanimani but the injured could not be brought to our hospital because we had been cut off from surrounding communities by the collapsed bridges,” Dr Mefor said.
Adding to the woes, Lydia Chimonyo High, which is the only girls’ school in the Zimbabwe Episcopal area had its water treatment plant also damaged.
Cyclone Idai characterised by high levels of rainfall accompanied by strong winds ravaged Zimbabwe as well as Malawi and Mozambique mid-March resulting in disastrous flooding. Manicaland, Masvingo and Mashonaland East province were affected by the storms which caused landslides as infrastructure and humans were submerged.
Manicaland, Chipinge and Chimanimani areas are reportedly the hardest. The United Nations has said Cyclone Idai could be “one of the worst weather-related disasters ever to hit the southern hemisphere”.
