Econet Wireless will be building 500 houses for cyclone idai victims. The Mobile network has secured about 2000 hectares of land for this good cause.
The Memorial Estate, was bought from Government and will be
home to victims who lost their homes and cannot rebuild where they originally
lived.
Speaking on his Facebook page, Econet Founder and Chairman,
Strive Masiyiwa said this is there major initiative going forward. Design work
for the first 500 houses has been completed and contractors will start work in
July.
“We still have more than 1,000 people working on helping the
people of Chimanimani, Zimbabwe recover from the impact of Cyclone Idai,” he
said.
“We recruited more than 100 qualified builders to help
families repair and rebuild their homes. We are supplying building materials,
using donated funds.We plan to help repair and rebuild 5,000 homes before the
next rains. The project is called “Maricho” based on a rural concept of helping
each other to undertake a major task. This project is well underway now.” He added.
Cyclone Idai, which the United Nations described as
“one of the worst weather-related catastrophes in the history of
Africa”, made landfall in Mozambique on March 14, before slamming into
Zimbabwe and Malawi.
“Some homes had mud up to 3m deep and were unliveable. Our
teams have helped them clean up the homes and areas around their homesteads.
Their focus is on homes for the elderly,” he said.
Regarding orphans and schools, the group has helped over 600
children return to school and also helped repair some of the schools.
In Zimbabwe, the storm has killed at least 185 people and left 270,000 in urgent need of humanitarian aid, according to the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP).
