Call for Africa Legal Community to Help

Save the Children, the international aid association, has appealed to the Africa Legal community to use its networks to raise money and provide support to those affected by Cyclone Idai.

Scott Cowan, co-founder of Africa Legal, is a member of the Africa Advisory Board for Save the Children. He said the devastation in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi was such that a global effort was now needed to help communities back on their feet.

“As Save the Children we are appealing to the legal communities from Nigeria to Kenya, Morocco to South Africa to use their networks to raise money for Save the Children’s work.”

Paul Martenstyn, chair of the Africa Advisory Board for Save the Children, said the NGO was on the ground and already working in the affected communities.

The organisation’s response included:

• Distributing emergency relief items to families who have lost their homes, including shelter supplies such as tarpaulins and ropes. Also provided were buckets, jerry cans and water purification tablets so families can access clean, safe drinking water.
• Fighting to prevent an outbreak of disease by implementing temporary toilets and distributing essential hygiene items like soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and antiseptics.
• Reuniting children separated from their families and plan to set up Child Friendly Spaces – protected areas where children can recover and receive psychosocial support to help them overcome the traumatic experience.
• Setting up temporary learning spaces, so children’s education isn’t disrupted.

Cowan said these interventions took huge resources and it was imperative that fundraising was ,increased in coming weeks to ensure the NGO could remain on the ground as long as possible as survivors rebuilt their lives.

“We in the Africa Legal community are uniquely placed to support Save the Children. Our community – more than most – is directly affected and understands the impact a natural disaster on this scale has on lives. Please support Save the Children by raising money in your office, among your professional peers and in your social circles.”

Wikipedia: Deathtoll at time of publishing - 624 people – 308 in Mozambique, 259 in Zimbabwe, 56 in Malawi, and one in Madagascar. Hundreds more missing.

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