A dyke along Phalombe River set to be rehabilitated in the area of Group Village Headman Malambwe in Phalombe district has raised hopes for people of the area to get back to their normal lives in the near future.

The dyke rehabilitation which is listed as one of the projects to be done by community members of the area under the Enhanced Public Works Programme (EPWP) is expected to protect people of Group Village men Malambwe, Chimombo and Njobvu from floods that displace a good population of them almost every year.

According to Chairperson for Malambwe Catchment Management Committee (CMC) Arnold Masema since news came in that the dyke which has been badly damaged in the past was going to be rehabilitated, community members have expressed hope for salvation.

"People of this area are never settled completely because time after time they have to relocate to someplace else when Phalombe River overflows, but now that there is a plan to rehabilitate the frayed dyke these people are hopeful for a better life," said Masema.

Speaking during the Njira Documentary screening exercise, Group Village Headman Njobvu of Traditional Authority Jenala said people of his area are but some of the many that suffer extended negative impacts of floods as his village lies at the end of the dyke which receives all the water from the river.

"Most of the water that fails to pass through the dyke into Chimombo and Malambwe villages comes down here and it passes through my village because I am at the lower end of the dyke and it does not cover me. Now that I hear the plan is to also extend it downwards on top of rehabilitating it, I am almost relieved," the GVH said.

Currently some of the villages that lie along the damaged dyke continue to get affected by flooding water that passes through the broken parts of the old dyke whose dilapidation worsened with the 2018/19 rains that continued to tatter it.

Story Credits: Sam Majamanda, District Information Officer, Phalombe.