For Mary Mafuleka, a mother of 11 months-old baby from Mgumera village in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Juma in Mulanje district, Cyclone Freddy was a beast which came to end her life and that of members of her community.
She says she was hopeless as the devastating cyclone wreaked havoc in all areas of her life, particularly health, food security, education and transportation.
“Healthy-wise, the cyclone brought about discomfort in my life and family. There was no food in the house and worse still, my 11-month-old baby became ill,” says Mary.
When the condition of her child worsened with stunting growth, due to prevailing cultural beliefs and practices, Mary suspected some witchcraft events surrounding her child. Hence, she was forced to visit a witch doctor to seek help.
“I decided to visit the witch doctor to heal my child who was endlessly ill. I suspected my relatives were bewitching my baby because she could barely eat and had low weight for a child of her age,” she recalls.
She confesses to having spent money on the herbalist but the condition of her child did not improve. All this time she did not know that her child was suffering from malnutrition.
However, it was not until Applied Development Communication and Training Services (ADECOTS) organized an Arts for Life Fair in her village that Chikondi, her child, was screened and diagnosed with chronic malnutrition.
Malnutrition, which is caused by acute food shortage, is one of the serious challenges affecting people, especially children in Malawi. UNICEF statistics show that in 2023, over 500, 000 children were at risk of malnutrition. While an estimated 62, 000 were at risk of severe malnutrition.
Currently, children in Malawi are at a greater risk of malnutrition due to worsening food insecurity, which is degenerated by a growing climate change crisis as evidenced by disease outbreaks such as cholera and cyclone Freddy which has affected 659, 000 people, including children.
At first, Mary could not believe that her child had been diagnosed with malnutrition. She felt embarrassed to accept the results in front of her fellow lactating mothers.
But later, with some psychosocial counselling, she agreed to be referred to Namphungo Health Centre where Chikondi started receiving treatment. Mary also received a Muac tape and was trained on how she can screen or monitor her child herself.
She said she was excited to be given the Muac tape which allowed her to monitor her child’s malnutrition status herself.
“Before being counselled, I felt embarrassed to be told that my child was malnourished in the presence of other mothers. But now with the Muac tape, I am confident and able to monitor the situation of my child on my own in the privacy of my home. The screening itself is an exciting process because I can see the progress of my child and confidently invite a health surveillance assistant for further screening of my child,” says Mary.
During the monitoring of the Zikutivuta Pati project, which is strengthening Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) and social mobilization for improved sanitation and malnutrition screening in flood-affected communities, the ADECOTS crew visited Mary’s house and found her child in good healthy and happy.
This is what Mary said: “I am very grateful that I got counselling and guidance from you, I would have lost my child if I continued visiting the herbalists. Now, I will invest the money in making sure Chikondi is eating nutritional foods from all six food groups.
“The Muac tape gives me the power to take charge of my baby’s health as I can screen my child for malnutrition anytime and anywhere and in the presence of other people or the privacy of my home.”
ADECOTS uses the power of arts to mobilize communities, including lactating mothers in the disaster-hit impact districts of Chiradzulu, Phalombe and Mulanje. Arts for Life (A4L) Fairs, which employ fun activities, is one of the strategies that is integrated into Social Behavioural Change (SBC) programming for the emergency response.
“Essentially, Arts for Life Fairs provide participants with a rare platform to create humorous activities which make the audience learn by laughing. It also integrates key program messages into popular traditional songs and dances for easy pick-up of the messages by the communities.
The idea is to influence communities to adopt optimal family practices in the areas of child protection, nutrition, health, HIV, education, water, sanitation and hygiene,” says Mercy Simbi, executive director of ADECOTS.
She adds that Arts for Life Fairs create a unique atmosphere where community members face their fears, break through taboos, and say things that they would normally hide.
“Arts for Life Fairs are there to bring cognitive dissonance in the audiences as they learn and experience psycho-social relief whilst making the adoption and practice of positive behaviours easy and exciting,” said Simbi.
Zikutivuta Pati was implemented in 23 T/As of three districts of Mulanje, Phalombe and Chiradzulu with funding from UNICEF. Among other achievements, it screened around 122,000 children for malnutrition and empowered mothers of under-five children with Muac tapes.
It also built the capacity of households in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) which resulted in the construction of over 1, 500 toilets and handwashing facilities to fight cholera. Through the program, ADECOTS further trained 340 volunteers who were facilitating the Interpersonal Communication (Door-to-Door) campaign aimed at improving sanitation and hygiene.
Commenting on the psychosocial challenges brought by the devastating impact of Cyclone Freddy, Group Village Head (GVH) Misomali from T/A Nazombe in Phalombe reacted:
“We have been traumatized since we were hit by Cyclone Freddy. But for once the Arts for Life Fair brought about fun on our own faces. Fun activities took us through some memorable and soul-uplifting sessions that deleted some gloomy pictures of the disasters.”