The above question is one Ms. Eva Chikabadwa asked the culture and heritage experts recently engaged by the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa to conduct the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) on Malawi’s Culture and Heritage Sectors following Tropical Cyclone Freddy that devastated many parts of southern Malawi in March 2023.
Ms. Chikabadwa, an artist and lecturer in Ceramics and Indigenous Knowledge at Malawi University of Science and Technology is one of the respondents to the 20 day mission across Malawi’s southern region by the experts whose findings have been published. She is deeply interested in collecting and preserving the culture and heritage of the Mang'anja people. When Tropical Cyclone Freddy hit, she was on a research trip in Khulubvi and Associated Mbona Sacred Rain Shrines (UNESCO Tentative List). She describes the traditional and sacred homes and shrines that were washed away with the heavy and violent rains and winds.
In that area, there are cultural bearers and custodians of the [Mang'anja] culture. Their houses are built of reed and were, thus, unable to withstand the downpour.
Within the context of projected ongoing threats from tropical cyclones and other climate-induced hazards, building resilience is key to disaster risk management and climate change adaptation. So how do we contend with the loss of culture and heritage in the face of climate change? Mr. Matthews Mfune laments the effect of Tropical Cyclone Freddy on Malawi’s intangible and tangible cultural heritage. In his role at the Sungani Zakwathu Cultural Heritage Association, he and other stakeholders have highlighted the need for disaster preparedness in a holistic and localised manner, something the PDNA on Malawi’s Culture and Heritage Sectors recommends.
...the primary objective of Malawi’s culture sector is to build its resilience to withstand emergency contexts better. This requires an approach that prioritizes scheduled maintenance, restoration, and conservation assessments of heritage, capacity-building for those working in the sector, partnerships, identification, and mapping of risks, and developing the appropriate framework to manage these risks and the actions to be taken in heritage in emergencies.
Indeed, culture and heritage need to be part and parcel of any disaster risk management and climate change adaptation plan to address not only the tangible and intangible heritage that may be affected by increasing extreme weather emergencies, but livelihoods as well; and UNESCO is committed to support the efforts of Malawi to strengthen the capacities and resilience of Malawians.
Of the 80 artists and artisans consulted during the PDNA process, visual and performing artists were hit the hardest. Speaking on his experience, Isaac Zuze, a Lilongwe-based filmmaker, photographer, and graphic designer expressed that “there was a huge setback in the art sector. A lot of projects were cancelled.” While acknowledging the understandable focus on immediate safety and wellbeing efforts by the national, regional, and international partners, he states:
At the time, the focus of the nation was those in need, visual arts were not prioritized. You couldn’t exhibit anything; you couldn’t go out to film, and I rely on that.
Having accompanied the 2023 PDNA Team on their UNESCO mission, Zuze recounts other artists expressing the difficulty in mobility to either buy raw materials to create, to travel to sell, exhibit or shoot film and photography, for example.
The Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) on Malawi’s Culture and Heritage Sectors was UNESCO ROSA’s initial response to Tropical Cyclone Freddy. It was supported by UNESCO’s Heritage Emergency Fund (HEF) and will be attached to the PDNA the Government of Malawi published (April 2023).
