Labana Steven is part of our emergency team bringing health and sanitation supplies to thousands of people affected by severe flooding brought on by heavy rainfall in Malawi’s Makhanga area.

After passing through Malawi in early March, the same weather system went on to become Cyclone Idai, which struck Mozambique and Zimbabwe from March 14 to 16. Idai was one of the worst tropical cyclones on record in Southern Africa. Steven, who has worked for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Malawi for 20 years, was also part of responses to severe flooding in the same area in 2008 and 2015. His historical understanding and deep engagement with local partners and communities in southern Malawi are vital to MSF’s ongoing response. Here, he describes his experience.