Malawi Red Cross Society (MRCS) has distributed cash and essential items to 336 families who are Mozambican refugees living in Nyamithuthu Camp in Nsanje District.
The assistance included food, blankets, buckets for water collection, hygiene kits and solar lamps as well as K70,000 cash to each family.
Initially, there were 7,900 in total at the camp, but after repatriation efforts in February 2025, the number decreased.
Director of Programmes and Development at MRCS, Gloria Kunyenga, said the organisation received support from the International Federation of the Red Cross to assist the refugees with the donation.
“The Red Cross is happy to have complemented the government efforts in taking care of these people,” said Kunyenga.
One of the beneficiaries, 50-year-old Rosana Juwao, expressed gratitude for the package and disclosed plans to go back home.
Meanwhile, the Department of Refugees, under the Ministry of Homeland Security, is working with partners to facilitate the refugees’ relocation process.
According to Hilda Katema, Senior Administrative and Operations Manager at the department, some asylum seekers have welcomed the news, understanding that the government might not have enough resources to continue operating the camp.
“The government will be doing a refugee status determination, and once done, the plan is to take those that have gone through this process to Dzaleka Refugee Camp,” explained Katema.
The cash and Non-cash items are worth K130 million.
The Nyamithuthu Refugee Camp is set to be dismantled by April 30, 2025, with asylum seekers being relocated to either Mozambique or the Dzaleka Refugee Camp.
The refugees who fled violence in Mozambique have been living at the camp since December 2024.
By Mercy Zamawa
