CARE works to save one of Maputo’s largest health clinics and school as gigantic ravines swallow up entire neighborhood
CONTACT: In Atlanta: Allen Clinton, 404-681-4579, ext. 206
In Mozambique: Wendy Driscoll, (011) 258-1-492-064
ATLANTA (March 10, 2000) -- In the Mozambique capital of Maputo, one of the largest health clinics, serving an estimated 100,000 people in the slum area of "Polana Caniça A," is steps away from being swallowed by an ever-widening ravine. Farther down the ravine, a school that serves more than 3,000 children, is poised to be the next victim. CARE is working with the community to make sure that doesn’t happen to these essential buildings.
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| This was Avenue Julius Nyerere, a main thoroughfare of Maputo. Since the floods began, the road has turned into a ravine about 50 feet deep in some areas. The remains of ruined houses and water pipes can be seen at the bottom. The ravine is growing by as much as 66 feet each day, and sprouting new offshoot ravines stretching ominously into Polana Canico A, a slum where CARE works. |
In Maputo, CARE’s cash-for-work program is offering an immediate source of income for people who are being paid to prevent storm ravines from further expanding and destroying the community’s homes, schools and critical infrastructure. With the participation of members of the Polana Caniça A community, CARE is installing "gabions" or reinforced steel wire filled with rocks -- to shore up the health clinic and the school.
"It’s near falling down," says Bonifacio Vicente Seringue, deputy head teacher at the school. "If CARE weren’t helping us, we would lose the school. Students already have to jump to get into the classroom because there are no steps anymore."
The ravine threatening the health clinic and school is one of several that were gouged throughout Maputo City by floodwaters three weeks ago. The largest of these ravines -- stretching more than a mile along the remains of Maputo’s Avenue Julius Nyerere and measuring nearly 50 feet deep in some areas -- has now sprouted tributary ravines that are snaking their way through large swathes of the Polana Caniça A area. Dozens of homes have crashed down into the flood-soaked valleys, while others have become virtual islands surrounded by deep gorges on either side.
"These ravines are a great gash through the middle of Polana Caniça A," says Kerry Selvester, manager of CARE’s urban programs in Maputo. "We have to do some serious work if people are going to be able to safely stay in this neighborhood."
About CARE
CARE is one of the world’s largest international private relief and development organizations, with projects in more than 60 countries. CARE began working in Mozambique in 1986 to help people affected by civil war. Since then, CARE has continued to distribute food and offer other emergency assistance. It also has expanded its work to include small economic activity development, agriculture and natural resources, health care and water and sanitation programs. With a staff of nearly 400 people, CARE operates in six of the 10 provinces in Mozambique.
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