Street Child’s Director of Africa Programmes, Megan Lees-McCowan, was recently in northern Mozambique to visit with our local team and partners who are working hard to support children and their parents whose lives were devastated by Cyclone Chido in December. In this blog, she reflects on what she saw. 
 

Driving from the provincial capital of Cabo Delgado into Mecùfi district, the shocking impact of Cyclone Chido becomes more and more apparent. Palm trees hang at 45-degree angles; larger trees are split in two. 

In December 2024, everyday homes and small businesses in these coastal communities were levelled by the 250 km/h winds. Roofs of concrete buildings were ripped off and rain lashed down. We heard people could only crouch on the ground and pray. 

Street Child and its local partner Comité para Saùde de Moçambique (CSM) had been working in Mecùfi with children affected by the terrorist insurgency which sprang up in Cabo Delgado in the aftermath of the previous devastating Cyclones Idai and Kenneth five years ago. 

After Cyclone Chido, our team were in a strong position to mount a first response to help devastated families again, enabled by the timely and generous support of givers to Street Child’s public Cyclone Appeal, including the governments of Guernsey and Jersey. 

In the immediate aftermath, Street Child prioritised the survival and dignity of children and families, with shelter and sanitation items reaching over 1,480 families, more than including 5,700 children. We also provided child-friendly spaces for children to play and receive counselling after the traumatic event. 

Now, less than six months on, residents of Mecùfi have had no choice but to rebuild homes however they can—patching together roofs with salvaged zinc and tin. Many essential public buildings still lie in disrepair: the local hospital, offices, and schools. 

Our work to rebuild, resource and reopen 16 priority classrooms has been made challenging by the unusually late rainy season, which normally ends in March but had not yet finished during our visit in May. Although still wet, the rain had eased enough that Street Child’s work had begun on 11 structures, with one completed. 

In the meantime, we have been running 26 temporary learning spaces and training teachers to help them respond to the multiple and complex needs of their students. Everything is different now, they tell us—children have been deeply affected by the loss of their homes and parents’ livelihoods.  Restoring their education, health, and wellbeing will take time and care, as the path to recovery is both long and complex. 

With support from our funding partners, Street Child will continue rebuilding more resilient, adaptive education infrastructure into next year and beyond. We are using the few roofs that withstood the cyclone as models, constructing with heavier zinc sheets and stronger, deeper roof connectors. 

Few communities and schools have disaster response plans in place to prepare for future cyclones. In Mozambique, one of the ten countries most affected by climate shocks worldwide, more storms are inevitable. We hope to secure funding to rebuild 12 additional classrooms across six communities, alongside developing comprehensive preparedness plans before the next cyclone season in December. 

At the same time, children in Cabo Delgado are facing worsening challenges. The abrupt withdrawal of international aid, driven by cuts from wealthier nations like the UK and US, has deepened existing needs. The resource-rich but long-neglected province, which is over 2,500 kilometres from the capital, has been highly affected by violence amid an ongoing insurgency. 

Still, Street Child’s local team and partners remain more committed than ever. We are working to secure every possible resource to help children access their rights to protection and education in a region at the frontline of both conflict and climate crisis. Thank you for standing with children and families in Mozambique as they work to rebuild and recover.