Leading us to a pile of broken bricks and debris, Mary sits on a boulder where she begins to tell her story. These bricks and ruins mark the place where her home, her business, her life once stood – all destroyed by Tropical Cyclone Freddy.
“I remember touching the walls on the inside of my house. They were soaking wet. I had a really bad feeling.”
On that fateful evening in March 2023, Mary was with her four children in their home in Mulanje, a small town in southern Malawi. As the storm approached, a deep sense of dread filled her chest. Rain thundered against the walls and wind rattled the roof violently. She had weathered many storms before, but never one like this. She knew something was wrong.
Mary was faced with an impossible choice: stay in her house and hope it would hold, or head outside with her children into one of the worst cyclones in history. She chose to leave. In torrential rain and howling winds, the family made their way to higher ground, finding shelter in a nearby school. A few hours later, a deafening noise tore through the night. “It sounded like a train screeching, crashing off its tracks. I’ll never forget that sound.”
The noise Mary heard was the sound of homes all around her – including her own – collapsing and being swept away. Water, mud and rocks tore through the village, landslides and floods destroying everything in their path. The terrifying sound repeated again and again through the night.
When morning came, Mary was relieved she and her children had survived. But her relief was shattered by grief. Her father had not. Cyclone Freddy claimed the lives of over 1,400 people as it tore through several African nations. Mary says 59 people in her immediate community lost their lives; 53 were children.
Across Malawi, in the days that followed, many of the 508,000 displaced people, including Mary and her children, made their way to refugee camps established by the government. There was no privacy, no safety and no comfort. Families huddled under damaged tents. The ground turned to mud when it rained.
“After the cyclone, life was very hard. I lost everything. I lost my home. I lost my business. I lost my money. Our town lost all our crops.”
Last Christmas, Mary and her children were living in a tent, trying to stay warm, trying to keep hope alive.
Then, one day, hope arrived. “Whilst we were at the camp, Habitat for Humanity came to visit with the mission of supporting us. They promised they would do all they could to build us a home.”
With bridges gone and roads impassable, rebuilding after disaster is never simple. But the team members from Habitat Malawi are experts in recovery, ensuring every new home is built to be as safe and sturdy as possible against future storms.
Before long, construction was underway, and Mary was amongst the first to be selected. “Now that I have a house, my life has been transformed. My dream is to find some land that I’m able to grow crops on for the community – I love farming. Best of all, I’ve been able to send my children to school again. My oldest, she’s just finished high school. I’m so proud.”
But the story doesn’t end with bricks and mortar. Our work is about more than homes – it’s about building self-sufficient communities. Mary’s extended family have received training in skills such as carpentry, some even securing paid contracts to help build Habitat homes. Others are training as motorbike mechanics, a much-needed skill in their community. Mary herself has learned brick-making techniques, and we also provided an energy-saving stove for cooking that protects her family’s health and the environment.
Next March will mark three years since Cyclone Freddy struck. But rebuilding lives and communities doesn’t happen overnight. Long after the headlines fade and emergency aid has moved on, Habitat for Humanity will still be there – brick by brick, home by home, helping people rebuild what was lost. It’s what we do. But we can only do it with you.
Each time the rain falls, Mary remembers that night. The sound of the storm. The walls giving way. The cries in the darkness. No one should ever have to face such fear, and no one should have to spend Christmas without a safe place to call home.
As our visit drew to a close, Mary paused on the steps of her new home. She had one last thing to share with us – not for herself, but for the families still waiting, for her neighbours still rebuilding.
“Please share my story. Share my experience. Share my transformation. Please help those who are still waiting for a home. The good things that I’m experiencing now are because of Habitat for Humanity. I want others to experience the same.”
Now it’s your turn to help make her wish for others come true this Christmas. This Christmas, as you give thanks for the blessing of a warm, safe home, please give a gift of hope by donating whatever you can afford so we can reach more families who wait for a safe place to sleep.
Please give a gift of hope by donating whatever you can afford so we can reach more families who wait for a safe place to sleep.
Donate today