Hope, Resilience, and a Garden’s Impact in the Aftermath of Cyclone Freddy!

In the face of disaster and loss, hope often takes root in the most unexpected places. Amos’s journey from the destruction caused by Cyclone Freddy in 2023 in Malawi to the humble success of a small garden is a testament to resilience and the power of community-driven solutions. Learn how simple acts, like growing a garden, can transform lives and bring vital nutrition, even when everything else has been taken away.

Water was rushing from the mountain devouring everything in its path. By mid-morning, families began grabbing their kids and scrambling out of their crumbling houses.

Amos yelled at his wife to grab their kids —happy, well-behaved children full of hope — and told her to meet him at the primary school, a short walk up the hill.

As houses collapsed noiselessly within the deafening roar, Amos did what many men did — he stayed home to protect it from thieves. Not that there was much to steal, other than some money, a hoe, and a couple bags of food.

Soon enough, Amos realized that he’d lose his own life and so he stuffed some money, clothes, and the bags of food into a sack and ran into the rushing water.

Debris and bodies swirled around him, disorienting him while pushing him downstream. It took many hours, but Amos finally reached the school, having lost his sack containing everything he had taken from the house. But he was alive, and so were his wife and kids.

Cyclone Freddy slammed Malawi in March 2023, bringing endless rain that disintegrated the deforested mountains and sent landslides crashing through hundreds of villages. Amos’s mother-in-law’s body was found several kilometers away. Amos’s village lays forever buried under boulders and earth; everyone lost their houses, possessions, and plots of farmland.

An evacuation camp became a permanent village, called Dozy Village, of hastily built huts. Never mind that Dozy Village was financed by a Nigerian businessman charged by the SCC with security fraud. When the huts were finished, Dozy Mmobuosi, flanked by two former Malawi presidents, cut the ribbon in a well-attended ceremony. A few months later, outside aid was nowhere to be found.

Each day, Amos and his wife searched for day labor, competing with the thousands of other villagers who lost their homes. When Face-to-Face introduced a workshop in Dozy Village, Amos signed up immediately even though he had never heard of a victory garden. He was disappointed the workshop ended without being given anything other than seeds. No tools, no cash transfers, no bags of food.

Some villagers sighed, saying no one cares about them and that their fates were only in the hands of God.

Amos made garden beds right next to his house, digging deep into the ground and putting in green leaves, dry stalks, ash, and goat manure. He was surprised and happy when Face-to-Face staff returned a week later to monitor gardens and help villagers make improvements. Amos told F2F he was desperate to feed his family, and hoped this new kind of gardening would work.

The plants grew quickly. They looked healthy and strong. Amos couldn’t help himself from peeking at the garden all day long. Within a few weeks, the family was eating pumpkin leaves and spinach every day. It may have been only enough for everyone to have a mouthful of these slightly boiled vegetables and Amos didn’t really know that small amounts of nutrients eaten regularly have an outsized impact on preventing child malnutrition and stunting.

But Amos’s wife says the kids are healthy and she and Amos grumble less and talk and laugh more.

In May 2025, when F2F checked back in on Amos and his family we found Amos and his wife laughing under a canopy of beans. And we hadn’t even made it to the inside of the garden.