Lilongwe, Malawi … In March 2023, Cyclone Freddy struck southeastern Africa. It was one of the longest-running, most destructive cyclones in world history, and its devastation to the high-population part of Malawi was beyond imagination. Entire villages disappeared, cropland was ruined beyond reclamation, and the cost to human life was immense. The destruction to the nation was so widespread the compromised nation is still trying to recover. The storm was so catastrophic that its name has forever been removed from use as a tropical storm. There will never be another Cyclone named Freddy.
Adding to the destruction from the cyclone has been the failure of seasonal rains and crop-destroying drought over the past two years. All of this is now imposing life-threatening famine conditions on an estimated 5.7 million people. That is 27 percent of their nationwide population of 21 million. If this catastrophe happened to the same magnitude in the United States, that would be the equivalent of over 90 million of our 335 million Americans. This would mean a life-threatening situation for the entire populations of California, New York, Virginia, and Florida combined.
In less than a week, several churches and individuals who support assistance programs in Malawi have put together $20,000.00 for famine assistance. The Malawi Project and Action for Progress stand ready to obtain and deliver food to the critically affected areas in Malawi. Malawi Project members are challenging our supporters to match the funds already raised for food assistance. Ron Pottberg, co-chair for the Malawi Project, notes, “We stand ready to move the funds to Malawi immediately, and the workers in the country are ready to begin food distribution to the affected areas. We appeal to you to send a check or donate through the Malawi Project website right away so lives can be saved.”
Send checks earmarked for famine relief to Malawi Project, 2421 Golfside Drive, Lebanon, IN 46052, or donate through our website malawiproject.org