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Family appeals for donations to help Malawi By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF An Oakville family undertaking development work in the African nation of Malawi is asking for the public's help following devastating flash foods there in late January. The Morrison family -- David and Joanne and their three children Patrick, 16, Daniel, 14, and Kalina 12, -- have been living in Bangula, Malawi for the past nine years working as part of the small, non-governmental organization, Iris Ministries Malawi. The organization conducts missionary, relief and development work, but now needs help providing aid to the thousands of people affected by the floods in the southern portion of the country. David, the Iris base director in Bangula, Malawi, spoke to The Oakville Beaver via phone during a distribution mission to the village of Tambo. "It was one of the villages that got hit the hardest when the flash floods hit," said Morrison. "There are 159 families in this village alone that had their homes destroyed. We're not talking damaged, we're talking completely wiped out." No deaths have been reported. However, roads, bridges, crops and livestock were destroyed in the flooding. Morrison said Bangula is a rural area in southern Malawi, which is home to around 20,000 people who are made up mainly of subsistence farmers. Tragically, drought is also a problem in this region and there was a food shortage problem even before the flooding. "We'd been praying for rain. We haven't had a good growing season for about four years now. There had been very little rain. The raining season is supposed to begin in November through until March, but this year it came late and it came pounding," said Morrison. "We have a little weather station at our base, so I measured the rain that day. We had about 150 millilitres of rain that dropped in about 90 minutes." The water flowed downhill and obliterated villages, like Tambo, where homes are mainly built out of mud bricks. "Basically, these people have been left with nothing 11 · Wednesday, February 15, 2012 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com SUBMITTED PHOTO Morrison, with children in Malawi. As communities struggle to cope in the aftermath of devastating flash floods in January, getting food to villagers is essential. Malnourished children will be more susceptible to disease during the upcoming malaria season. but the clothes on their backs and they have to start all over again. Whatever little food they had got washed away," said Morrison. "We had a little bit of extra food on our base so the day after, tooling around in the aftermath of the storm, we started handing out packages of rice to these families. It really moved your heart because they were just scrambling through the rubble or whatever remained of their house, looking for anything... a cup or a plate they could salvage. Most came up with very little." Thanks to donations from communities, like Oakville, Morrison said Iris has been able to mobilize some food relief and, earlier this month, distributed 50 kilograms of maize, 50 kg of beans and some clothing to the households of Tambo. While Morrison is grateful for the support his organization has A helping hand: Former Chartwell Baptist Church youth pastor David received, so many more people need help, he said, estimating approximately 2,000 people were affected by the flooding in Bangula alone. Another 6,000 people are in displacement camps in a nearby region. Morrison said all of these people will be in need of aid until at least April when the crops they planted before the rains will be ready for harvest. Getting food to these villagers is essential, Morrison said, as malaria season is approaching and people, particularly children, will be more vulnerable to the disease if they are malnourished. The Morrison family's past work in Malawi has included the building of a primary school, creation of a fish farm, founding of a boys and girls club, teaching of new farming methods to the community, adoption of 60 orphaned children and building four children's homes. Morrison, who was a youth pastor at Chartwell Baptist Church, said there is no experience more rewarding than helping people in need. "It is so fulfilling to give food, especially to the children," he said. "People are so very, very hungry right now and we can blame all sorts of people for this. We can blame ourselves, we can blame them for not being proactive, we can blame the weather, but the fact of the matter is people are very hungry and we have to do something to help them." Residents who wish to help fund the flood relief efforts, can visit www.irismin.ca/contactsupport and select `Malawi Flood Relief'. 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