Christian leaders in Malawi are coming together across denominational lines to provide aid to families displaced and devastated by recent floods.

“We cannot be seated and wait for foreign aid when our own people are suffering,” Father Boniface Tamani of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi told fellow religious leaders at a meeting in Blantyre. “I can challenge you that as a Church, we will do great things and we will do them better,” he said.

The churches have appealed to three million Christians and people of goodwill in Malawi to contribute money and in-kind donations of food, clothes, shoes, and other necessities. The aid is planned for distribution over three months, but could be extended depending on needs assessments.

Father Tamani acknowledged that the church’s involvement in the flood response had so far been limited and uncoordinated. With World Vision transporting goods and managing distributions, that will change, he says.

“With the approach taken by World Vision, we will be able to have a coordinated response from the Church,” says Father Tamani.

In Malawi, Christians constitute about 80 percent of the population of 16.36 million.

Photo © 2015 Charles Kabena/World Vision