The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has donated recreation kits to about 70 schools in southern Malawi.
It is understood that the recreation kits contained various sports materials for children and school learners.
UNICEF, in a tweet, said that the recreation kits would allow learners to play and address the stress caused by tropical Cyclone Ana.
The UN agency noted that more than 995, 072 people in southern Malawi have been affected by floods, with over 32, 000 displaced persons seeking temporary shelter in 178 displacement sites.
UNICEF also noted that 476 schools lost teaching and learning materials, affecting approximately 398,908 learners, leading to school closures in the southern African country.
Cyclone Ana came with heavy rainfall in January 2022, causing floods and landslides, resulting in casualties and widespread infrastructural damage in Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi.
‘We see the amount of damage that has happened and children are the most affected, many schools have had to close, many schools were used as shelter for displaced families’ UNICEF Representative in Malawi, Rudolf Schwenk, said.
‘So today we brought learning materials and recreation kits because it is so important that children continue to learn’.
The impact of natural disasters on children and their education can be profound, with millions of children across the world missing out on school as a result of humanitarian emergencies.
Nearly 40 million children a year have their education interrupted by natural disasters such as earthquakes and disease outbreaks, a 2018 report by Their World revealed.
Data from the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) shows that children exposed to natural disasters often experience depression symptoms.
UNICEF’s donation is expected to go a long way in helping children in Malawi overcome depression, anxiety and pick up interest in learning again.
Photo source: UNICEF Malawi