After severe flooding due to the La Niña weather phenomenon in seven provinces in South Africa in February 2023, Freddy, the longest-lasting and highest-energy tropical cyclone ever recorded worldwide, hit Madagascar, Mozambique, and Malawi. At the time of writing this article, in the countries hit hardest, besides all the damage to homes, businesses, basic infrastructure, roads, bridges and affected crops and livestock, more than 150 people lost their lives in Mozambique and over 500 in Malawi. Many are still missing. The number of displaced persons in the 12 affected Malawian districts has risen to more than half a million! All efforts are now going into the search for the missing, feeding the victims and avoiding the spread of water-borne diseases. Malawi was already facing its deadliest cholera outbreak in recorded history with 45,400 cases, which claimed the lives of more than 1,400 people just weeks before Freddy struck the country.
Public buildings, especially educational institutions, serve as emergency shelters, and while rescue and emergency relief is still going on, the debate in the public sphere is already in full swing: Why is the country so vulnerable, and what can be done to limit the impact of such increasingly frequent extreme weather phenomena, as well as improve the disaster preparedness of the country and its communities?
Raising awareness, integrating preventive measures into curricula
ALE can play a critical role in this, especially in areas prone to natural disasters, like in Blantyre City where most of the victims had built their houses in the mountains and along the banks of rivers. Adult education can raise awareness about the risks and impact of natural disasters such as cyclones. It can support community dialogues geared toward finding solutions for settlement schemes, access to basic services such as the provision of potable water. Citizenship education in ALE can prepare learners to advocate to government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders for policies and practices that support disaster preparedness and resilience.
ALE, when understood as integrated work covering all sectors of life, can integrate preventive measures like reforestation into its curricula and equip communities and individuals with the necessary skills and knowledge on how to be prepared for disaster, master early warning systems, evacuation procedures, and disaster kits. Thus, communities become more resilient. Last but not least, ALE can support learners coping with the trauma and stress linked to whatever disaster may come along.
These are examples of the things that can be done in our partner countries, such as Malawi.
In Mozambique, where some community learning facilities of our partner organizations were directly hit, DVV International has the ability to link them to help possibilities that come with the necessary rehabilitation.
Halt global warming!
Yet generally, at regional and continental level in Africa, where some countries face flooding, others face extreme droughts – at the same time and on the global level, there is no alternative except to limit carbon dioxide emissions in order to halt global warming. ALE can provide needed support to raise the needed creation of awareness and to practically apply ways and means for how this can be done – worldwide. The course “klimafit – Climate change on your doorstep! What can I do?” was developed by WWF Germany and the Helmholtz Association for Regional Climate Change and Humanity (REKLIM). Klimafit is an encouraging example for a related initiative and already involves 149 local adult education centers in Germany.
Catastrophes such as the one we have had to witness in Southern Africa will happen again, more frequently, and more disastrously, in a wider range of areas, without sparing those regions which nowadays believe that they will be on the safe side.
With targeted and concerted efforts, ALE can at least help to ensure that we are not completely helpless in the face of these developments.
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