Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) in Zimbabwe has started counselling sessions for Cyclone Idai survivors in Chimanimani and Chipinge as part of their response to the needs of the survivors.
AFM has taken the initiative to help Cyclone Idai survivors as there are reports that the Church’s Rusitu West Parish in Chimanimani lost 72 members to cyclone Idai-induced floods, a figure representing about a quarter of its congregation.
AFM Secretary for Social Welfare Mrs Miriam Mhunduru says it will take a long time for survivors to accept and come to terms with what transpired and they need all the psychological help they can get. She said:
We are also going to be on the ground to assist in the psycho-social needs of the people who were affected. They are going to need support in terms of closure for them to understand what has happened to their lives.
So the church is going to continue to address the emotional, psychological and physiological needs. All these things are going to be put in place by the church.
We are going to have volunteers who are going to come together to coin up a programme of psycho-social support for not just AFM members, but the community at large.