Celina Tembe
Mozambique
“In the past, we knew that during the winter there would be no rain,” says Celina. “But nowadays it has become… normal.”
Most of Celina’s neighborhood in Boane District, Mozambique, was under water. The area had already been impacted by flooding, but the situation intensified with the arrival of Cyclone Freddy, the longest lasting tropical cyclone in recorded history.
After sheltering at a school for 10 days, Celina and her children returned home, where they found all of their belongings covered in mud and ruined by water. The family’s crops had been destroyed.
People then started to get seriously ill, including Celina’s two young daughters.
“We didn’t have mosquito nets. We were just fleeing from water in our houses,” she said. “I didn’t want to believe the truth. But when I arrived at the hospital, that is when I saw that it was malaria.”
For Celina, hearing the news that both of her daughters had malaria was terrifying. Just six months before the cyclone hit, her 35-year-old husband Maxaieie came home late from work, sick with a fever.
“That is when I realized that I’m alone now. I’m the father and the mother of my kids” she says.
After both of Celina’s daughters were tested for malaria and rapidly put on treatment, they both made full recoveries.
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©The Global Fund/Tommy Trenchard/Rooftop
