A selection of people and communities in cyclone and conflict affected parts of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique

1. Observations from Southern Mucojo coastal villages:
Olumbua, Kirimize and Mipande
June 2019

2. Map of Ibo islands and mainland areas &
Legend of areas.
In Red: Ibo Islands:
From North: Matemo, Ibo,
Quirimbo, Quiremba
In Blue: Macomia District /
Mucojo Posto
In Yellow: Quissanga
District
Pemba
Pemba
Quirimba
Ibo
MatemoMatemo
Ibo
Quirimba
Mucojo
Quissanga
Our route to
Mucojo

3. Standing on the rubble of their former school, pupils from one of the two destroyed schools in Olumbua. IOM is
working as fast as possible to bring large tents to enable classes to start again, collaborating with UNICEF for
learning and teaching materials and NEMA Foundation for on site implementation and support.

4. School kids in Mipande. And a selection of exam and teachers books the teacher /
director managed to save, and keep in good condition under a tarpaulin in the
broken school.

5. School kids in Olumbua – out of school and enjoying the chance to show visitors around their
village

6. An example of local
architecture and
materials
vertical and horizontal
sticks with rocks and
earth in-fill is the most
common construction
system observed.

7. Some families have moved quickly to
reconstruct their homes, importing bamboo and
other materials from Quissanga, the
neighbouring district.
This picture shows the local roofing material,
macute, that has been collected locally and left
to dry on a simple wooden frame.
This family has rebuilt the frame of their house
with salvaged materials from their damaged
home.
Most vulnerable families who have less capacity
and resources are less able to gather materials
and rebuild. These should be the focus of
shelter recovery programmes.

8. A family home in Olumbua. Many buildings here are built with blocks or coral rocks. They used
milled timber for roofing – material that would be expensive to import but could benefit from
milling the fallen coconut trees.

9. Kirmize village
Without mangroves this ocean-facing village
took the full force of tropical cyclone
Kenneth in April 2019
Hundreds of coconut trees were knocked
down across the community
While this is an economic loss, it presents a
significant potential opportunity in the form
of construction timber.

10. A view of community led self recovery: families have started to build temporary shelters from the
debris of their former homes – all completely destroyed in this site. This shows the resilience
and determination of affected populations here. Their concerns: these temporary structures will
not survive the coming rains (Oct – March).

11. Approaching Olumbua community by boat – showing the proximity to the ocean,
housing typology and people’s capacity for self-recovery.

15. One of the 3 broken pumps in Olumbua
village
Community recovery needs to prioritise
these dysfunctional pumps and make sure
people have access to sufficient and safe
drinking water.

16. Fishing was the main economic activity in this area. People told us that most of their fishing
boats were damaged or destroyed. This boat, in Kirimize is already under repair.

17. Leaving Olumbua for Kirmize, on the horizon in the distance. Our boat in the
middle distance sits in the water channel between these two villages.

18. The Future Generation of the cyclone affected communities – for whom every day counts to keep
up with their education, while clean water, access to affordable health care and a safe shelter are
equally critical priorities.

19. With Kira
and the kids

20. Children from Ulumbua, who guided us
around and showed us into their world.
A year later, they have all been displaced
by the conflict that shows no end in sight.
Their future is effectively in tatters, as
they move into unfamiliar territory, loose
access to the school they used to attend
and the security of their local community.

21. Update as of Jan 2021 – since June 2019 when I visited, the
insurgency has continued to terrorise these communities; with
no services or links to clinics, schools, humanitarian support,
or markets.
Most of the 60,000 people that lived along this Mucojo
coastline have now fled, and are in displacement across Cabo
Delgado, living in incredibly difficult conditions, with little or
no chance of work for the adults, people are forced to take
desperate measures to survive.

22. Ibo and Matemo islands
This section that follows gives a some insights into life on the islands,
which suffered some of the most intense impacts of the cyclone – and
then hosted tens of thousands of displaced people from Mucojo and
other parts of the mainland.

23. Mia and her family are from
Matemo, and have been living
in the temporary shelter shown
in the background since the
cyclone.
Her original home which was
destroyed was built from coral /
limestone. Mia has too little
income to afford the
reconstruction of her home.

24. Typical scene in Matemo island:
• Previous home in background – almost completely
destroyed. No signs of any reconstruction to date.
• Temporary shelter built for the family in foreground – with
an IOM tarp distributed around July 2019.
• Fallen coconut tree potentially can be sent to sawmill to
create timber for reconstruction (reducing costs of
importing new timber materials).

25. IOM & Irish Aid
Boat –
Ondas Esmeraldas
at work across the
islands

26. Reaching Quirambo island by foot at low tide.
• IOM Boat can reach until very shallow waters,
but teams need to prepare to walk some way
to access most islands.
• Ibo island in background.
• Movement is heavily tide dependent

27. Fani Mussa, IOM’s staff in Ibo, in front of the remains of his family home on the island of Ibo (left)
And in front of his temporary accommodation, he shares with his brothers (right).
Despite having work with an international organisation, Fani explains that like most other residents of the islands,
few have enough money to rebuild safe, more resilient homes.

28. IDPs in Ibo
Arrived in February from Quissanga district
With limited police presence and
functional judiciary, the military patrol the
island with little oversight and controls.
People are afraid, especially women and
girls.
There have been multiple reports of rape
by Mozambique military forces on the
island.

29. DFID tarps distributed in June –
July 2019 in Quissanga, now
seen in Quirambo island, with
IDPs from Quissanga.
This shows how much the
quality of a tarpaulin matters –
this one has been used for over
a year and is still in good
condition. More expensive up
front but much longer lasting.
That’s good value for money!

30. Images from the newly
created IDP settlement on
Quirambo island – slightly
separate to the small existing
community.

31. • Dadi Silimani, a local
entrepreneur in Matemo
showing the kind of
damages that occurred
after the cyclone.
• Without guidance and
support, local people will
rebuild in the same way
as before – and their
houses will collapse
again.
• A programme of training
and support in stronger,
resilient building design –
using local materials – is
critical.

32. Matemo: A selection of different houses and types of damage

33. One of the primary schools in Matemo. Instituto Oikos has quickly made basic repairs to
the roof and covered it with plastic to enable classes to start again.
Oikos is now seeking funding to complete full reconstruction of the school roof, including
latrines and hand-washing, and the rain water collection system, seen in the photos

34. The rebuilt school is already bringing some
normality and sense of recovery.
Art inspired by the UN-WFP helicopters!

35. On Quirimba island we met this young lad, slightly physically disabled but highly skilled with his hands. Had made this little boat
out of coconut shells, even with its own sail, which he launched for us. Such an inspiration, if only he had access to a school,
technical training. He could become an engineer or a famous artist.

36. With Clara Gomez and Araujo – IOM’s tireless Shelter Team – holding on for dear life as we powered through
the rough seas around the islands.

37. Matemo island

38. Lashing down the tarps on Ibo

39. Government response
team from the
National Disaster
Management Agency –
INGC
Taking a break from
fixing shelters, in Ibo.
May, 2019

40. In Mucojo town
centre, June 2019, a
big lively community
discussion on what
next, after the
cyclone and how they
felt about the
assistance so far, and
so much more…

41. More
discussions,
meetings,
debates…
when people still
lived in Mucojo