{"id":5710,"date":"2026-03-12T08:42:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T08:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.powershiftafrica.org\/in-the-news\/mozambique-floods-my-childbirth-experience-at-a-displacement-camp"},"modified":"2026-10-28T08:58:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T08:58:18","slug":"mozambique-floods-my-childbirth-experience-at-a-displacement-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/in-the-news\/mozambique-floods-my-childbirth-experience-at-a-displacement-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"Women in the climate crisis: My childbirth experience at a displacement camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"
Estef\u00e2nia Tomaz Juli\u00e3o nursing her baby outside her temporary shelter in Chaquelane, Mozambique, following the recent floods. | PSA<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estef\u00e2nia spreads a thin sheet on the stiff concrete floor and lays her newborn son carefully next to his sister. There are neither blankets nor covers to tuck them into. As she gently positions herself next to her children, her two-week-old son purrs, the movement having interrupted his asleep. Estef\u00e2nia turns off her small flashlight, resigning herself to her present destitute fate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next to them in this small church in the middle of a maize field in Chaquelane in Northern Mozambique, a group of women and their children huddle together, trying to generate elusive warmth amid the vexing buzz of mosquitoes. The night outside has fallen into a shrill, unnerving quietness. It\u2019s the end of another exhausting day at this camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Chaos every which way<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A few kilometres from here, chaos reigns. There are washed-up farmlands, submerged homes, wrecked roads and bridges, and an unending sea of floodwaters whichever way you look. The expanse of this small town in Gaza Province is defaced with debris, helplessness, and grief, the aftermath of the recent flood disaster that killed 150 people and displaced nearly 1 million others. Estef\u00e2nia is one of these internally displaced people (IDPs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the young mother, living in a temporary shelter away from home was the last thing on her mind when the year started. With her baby three weeks away, the family was carrying over the festivities into the new year. Then one night, tragedy struck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heavy rain had been pounding the country since December. Floods were raging. By mid-January, the government ordered the evacuation of villages. Her two-year-old daughter in tow, Estef\u00e2nia and tens of other villagers were ferried to their temporary shelter in a truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She recounts: \u2018\u2018I was heavily pregnant and traumatised when we arrived at the camp.\u2019\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The camp, a local primary school, was crowded and chaotic. Here, dozens of families from different villages across the district shared a refuge away from their destroyed homes and livelihoods. Women, children, and the elderly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018\u2018My husband wanted us to leave the camp,\u2019\u2019<\/em><\/strong> she recalls. Except there was nowhere else to shelter. \u2018\u2018We had to stay at the camp until it was safe to return home.\u2019\u2019<\/em><\/strong> But the rains weren\u2019t showing signs of abating. Their home in Chokwe, 30 kilometres away, was still submerged in floodwaters. They, like everyone in this sprawling camp, lost nearly everything: crops, livestock, and businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten days later, her baby arrived. For Estef\u00e2nia, the joy of her newborn baby quickly turned into agonising battle for survival. For a woman who was comfortably fending for her family and living in her own home, the turn of fortunes was drastic as Estef\u00e2nia became a beggar and refugee overnight. Her world had changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018\u2018It isn\u2019t the start I had in mind for the new year. It\u2019s not how I wanted to bring my son to the world,\u2019\u2019<\/em><\/strong> she says, her face contorting with nostalgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the camp, she, like hundreds of other families, would queue for rations, her condition notwithstanding. The meals, mostly rice and white porridge, are part of the relief food from the government and the World Food Programme (WFP). Sometimes, the portions are too small for a lactating mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nursing a newborn at a displacement camp<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Nursing a newborn baby in a camp of nearly 2,000 other IDPs was distressing. The hygiene was poor, the food insufficient and the commotion of camp life unbearable for both baby and mother. Her husband found a small church in the neighbourhood and moved them there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking two kilometres between the church and the camp became a daily routine. \u2018\u2018I come here every day for food and to spend the day with other mothers. In the evening, I return to the church to rest.\u2019\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Estef\u00e2nia represents millions of African women who find themselves caught in the crosshairs of a climate crisis they did nothing to cause. But when nature erupts in cyclones, drought or floods, they suffer the harshest consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s vulnerability to climate impacts<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

There are about 33 million women smallholder farmers<\/a> in Sub-Saharan Africa. These form the bulk of Africa\u2019s agricultural workforce, from which they draw a livelihood while ensuring the continent is food secure. When extreme weather events destroy croplands, their means of survival is lost. When their homes are swept away, they become refugees in their own country. The cycle doesn\u2019t change. It only gets worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN Women warns that by 2030, climate change will disproportionately impact women and girls<\/a>, worsening gender inequalities, poverty, food insecurity, and health risks. By enduring childbirth while fleeing a flooded home, these experiences are not an impending threat but a current reality for Estef\u00e2nia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For this stranded mother, imagining life after the floods \u2013 however uncertain that future maybe \u2013 is a distant concern. For her, the safety of her baby and toddler and her own wellbeing are her immediate worry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s International Women\u2019s Day (IWD 2026) called for action to dismantle the structural barriers to equal justice. For Estef\u00e2nia and millions of African women on the climate frontline, delayed climate justice means prolonged suffering. It means loss of a home, livelihood and future.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The January 2026 flood disaster that killed 150 people and displaced nearly 1 million others in Mozambique was yet another brutal reminder of climate-induced extreme weather events. Beyond the headlines of washed-up farmlands, submerged homes and a wrecked economy, however, is the untold story of Estefania. A young woman who gave birth at a displacement camp in the midst of this madness. This is her story.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":5711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[28,27],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-5710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-news","tag-adaptation","tag-climate-justice"],"acf":{"url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5710"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9478,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5710\/revisions\/9478"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5710"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=5710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}