Tzu Chi Vice-President visits Mozambique to mark completion of Cyclone Idai housing project

Pi Yu Lin, Global Vice-President of the Tzu Chi Charity Foundation, begins a working visit to Mozambique today, a trip that will mark the completion and handover of approximately 3,000 homes built by the organisation under the Hope Project, benefiting communities affected by Cyclone Idai in 2019. In Mozambique, starting from Sofala Province on 28 February, Pi Yu Lin will preside over the official handover ceremony of the Guara-Guara village, comprising 2,067 homes built by Tzu Chi, whose construction began in 2025, marking the completion of this phase of the foundation’s reconstruction support project following Cyclone Idai. In total, 3,182 homes have been built under the project, exceeding the three thousand planned under a memorandum signed by Tzu Chi with the Government of Mozambique, with the housing component alone costing US$45 million.

The infrastructures were constructed using the “Build Back Better” system, capable of withstanding category 4 cyclones with winds of around 250 kilometres per hour, in a region of Mozambique repeatedly affected by cyclones. “For us, these are not just walls. These homes are proof that collective and voluntary effort can overcome any natural disaster.

We are pleased today to hand over the houses in the presence of the Global Vice-President, who did so much to make this dream possible,” said Dino Foi, President of Tzu Chi Charity Foundation Mozambique. The homes are part of a broader support package for communities affected by Cyclone Idai in 2019, which also includes the handover of a total of 23 schools in Sofala Province, 17 of which have already been completed and delivered. During her visit to Mozambique, which continues until 6 March, Pi Yu Lin will participate in various activities related to the daily work of Tzu Chi volunteers in the country, including meetings between her delegation and government authorities.

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Pi Yu Lin’s last visit to Mozambique took place in September, when 10 schools and 840 homes were handed over under the same project, in a ceremony presided over at the time by President Daniel Chapo. In the presence of the Global Vice-President, Tzu Chi Mozambique will hand over three more schools, including Escola de Esturro (Beira City), the largest primary school in the country, a project worth more than US$4.8 million, and Escola Secundária de Nhamatanda, which now becomes the largest secondary school in the country with 66 classrooms. READ:Mozambique: Tzu Chi Foundation to hand over country’s largest primary school in Esturro, Beira In 2024, Tzu Chi also delivered the Escola Secundária de Mafambisse to Mozambican authorities, also in Sofala and under the same project, which was the largest secondary school in the country until the completion of Escola Secundária de Nhamatanda, at a cost of US$13 million. In November 2025, the Hope Project won the Corporate Sustainability Award at the 2025 edition of the Asia-Pacific Sustainability Action Awards (APSAA), an event organised by Taiwan Corporate Sustainability that annually recognises international initiatives with notable impact and relevance.

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