On 14 March 2019 at 23:30 on of the biggest cyclones to hit Mozambique reached landfall. The extent of the damage was beyond anyone’s imagination. 168 000 ha of agriculture were destroyed and some towns totally destroyed. Beira city was 90 % destroyed. People were sleeping when the cyclone hit their mud huts. Thousands were killed and more than 100 000 people were left roofless. People were scattered.

In the process many schools were destroyed. One school in particular. The storm first hit the small village of Chicote, north of Beira. The primary school was totally destroyed. When kids gathered after the storm there was nothing left of their school. As we were working in the aftermath of the cyclone we heard of this school through some of our leaders in Chicote. Children and communities needed hope. We have lost more than 35 friends and leaders during the cyclone and decided to tackle the Chicote school. Through many friends we gathered some funding to rebuild their school.

Children gathered and spontaneously started singing when a small truck arrived with building supplies and a few builders from the local community. HOPE is a powerful thing. Through destruction and death ….. and no future kids grabbed on to HOPE as they saw their school arise from the ashes. They helped eagerly to get sand from the truck ……! For us this was an important lesson in educating kids and the community that as long as we have breath we simply never … ever …. never give up and always RE-BUILD as quickly as we can. We are still building and still need some funding for roofing and school desks. BUT ….. hope drives us all forward. Soon all 400 children will have a brand new school …. and yet again Mozambique will flourish.