An estimated 900,000 children have been orphaned or separated from their families, made homeless or otherwise affected by Cyclone Idai—half of the 1.8 million people impacted overall.
Her name is Chuva, which in Portuguese means rain. For four days that was all she saw as she clung to her rooftop in the cyclone's aftermath and prayed to be saved.
The children crowd displacement camps, sleeping rough on plastic tarps on bare brick floors, or on the wooden benches of crowded schools. Initial assessments in Beira indicate that more than 2,600 classrooms have been destroyed and 39 health centers impacted. At least 11,000 houses have been totally destroyed. "This will have serious consequences on children's education, access to health services, and mental well-being," Fore said after her visit to Beira.
When the orphaned children approach with questions, Sithole uses tough love and deflection: Eat this. Sleep here. Go play. For more than a week after the cyclone, a 7-year-old girl waited with her older sister at the school, injured and bewildered by her mother's absence. Finally her mother appeared at the school. By then the small girl was so traumatized she couldn't say her name.
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