Cyclone Idai made landfall near Beira city, Mozambique, on March 14, 2019. Its heavy rains and strong winds led to flooding, hundreds of deaths, and massive destruction of property and crops. Hundreds of thousands became homeless and displaced; many people lost family members, friends saw their communities devastated. The night the storm hit, Iris Dondo became a place of refuge for over 350 people from their community. For weeks after, the team on ground came together to feed and shelter their neighbors until they could rebuild or repair their home, or return to a home of a family member or friend. Among those that took refuge on the base, many we’re disabled, blind, or widowed. The team saw the massive need to help those that had no way of rebuilding for themselves; the team continued to feed and care for them as the base partnered with the local church to build new homes for their neighbors in need.
In the weeks following, it was evident that the storm brought mass destruction all throughout Sofala Provence. Iris Global, Iris Dondo, as well as Iris Relief all partnered together to begin our efforts in doing our part in the long term recovery in central Mozambique. With the amazing generosity of the international community that poured into Iris, goals were set to see 200 homes built, 50 churches restored, 25,000 kg of corn seed distributed, as well as over 1,000,000 meals given. The greatest asset our team has here in Mozambique, and the key to seeing all of this take place, is we have hundreds of thousands of local Jesus-loving believers within the Iris Church Family to be, as what Heidi Baker termed, “Feet on the Ground”. Our Dondo Base, Iris Global Response Team, as well as the local Mozambican church have worked together theses last 8 months to see, not only the physical restoration of Mozambique, but hope restored by loving the one in front of us and demonstrating the love of God in a very real, and tangible way.
In just a few short weeks, the team on ground will be finishing up the long term efforts. They have been successful in seeing over 1,300,000 meals distributed, reaching nearly 10,000 families all throughout Sofala Provence. By partnering with building crews from the local church, 200 homes have been built or repaired all through out the Beira and Dondo areas. Material for 53 of our local Iris churches have been purchased, each church has come together to rebuild in unity to continue as a light to those around them. In addition to meals distributed, over 25,000 kilograms of corn seed has been purchased and given to families all throughout the Provence. Central Mozambique is the area that produces the largest crop of corn in the country, therefore our team has recently been distributing Manna Packs, fortified rice with protein, but also investing into the long term sustainability of Mozambique by giving an average 10kg of corn seed per family to replant in their local farms.
We are so thankful to see all that God’s has done through this amazing team in seeing the restoration of Mozambique become a reality. Above anything else, our heart behind every meal given, house and church built, and seed planted, as that the Kingdom of God advances and the name of Jesus is made known throughout this beautiful nation!