By Chifundo Kowedza

Blantyre, June 26, Mana: Six months pregnant, clutching her two-year-old child and a handful of belongings, Shaminah Adam ran for her life. Behind her, the South African city of Durban was erupting into violence against foreign nationals.

Adam, who migrated from Malawi in 2019 to work as a maid, was chasing the same economic dream that draws thousands of her compatriots across borders.

Instead, that dream shattered overnight; she witnessed gunshots and watched helplessly as fellow migrants were killed by a mob of South Africa protestors.

Today, she is one of hundreds crowding into temporary camps, where uncertainty is the only constant.

Her story is a single thread in a massive, unfolding tragedy: separated from their homes, businesses, and families, thousands of displaced Malawians now find themselves trapped in overcrowded shelters, watching years of hard work disappear within days as renewed xenophobic attacks force them to flee for safety.

“People are being attacked and killed during the day and we were forced to move out of our houses to stay in tents for ‘safety’,” explains Adam, caught up at Kamuzu Stadium alongside the rest, awaiting the final leg of the journey home.

Before the attacks, Adam recalls living comfortably in a good house until violence broke out, forcing her and many other Malawians to abandon their homes and seek refuge in camps where displaced migrants gather for safety.

“We were dragged from our homes and we ended up sleeping in camps together with other Malawians who were running away from the attacks,” she adds.

The mother-to-be says the situation becomes even more frightening as access to healthcare becomes uncertain and she recalls visiting King George Hospital in Durban together with her husband for a medical check-up, only to be told that she should not return to the facility.

“They told me that it would be the last time I am assisted there and that I should not visit the facility again,” she explains.

Today, Adam has safely returned to Malawi, but her husband remains in South Africa and she hopes that he will be among those expected to return as more buses continue bringing stranded Malawians home.

What began as a temporary escape from violence now stretched into weeks of waiting inside crowded tents where thousands of displaced migrants depended on aid and uncertain plans for return.

But for a pregnant woman like Adam the conditions were especially difficult due to lack of privacy and medical support.

“As a pregnant woman, seeing fellow women delivering in tents was traumatizing and distressing, especially as men also witnessed the deliveries,” she says.

One of them is Amina Bwanali, a 28-year-old mother from Makanjira in Mangochi, who describes a harrowing account of giving birth in a camp after fleeing the violence.

Bwanali went into labour while living among hundreds of displaced migrants, enduring immense pain and fear after being displaced from her home and forced to seek refuge in a temporary shelter.

“Giving birth while a multitude of people are watching is the most painful thing I have experienced in my lifetime,” Bwanali told Mana.

Fighting back tears, Bwanali says she never imagined that one of the most important moments of her life will happen in such circumstances.

Instead of delivering her baby in a hospital surrounded by trained health workers, she found herself giving birth in a crowded camp with little privacy.

The experience, she says, remains one of the most traumatic memories of her life.

Sitting among fellow returnees at Kamuzu stadium, Norah Chitseko reflects on the life she has left behind in South Africa.

The former salon owner who once employed several people and rented out saloon shops helping her earn a living now returns home with almost nothing after fleeing the xenophobic violence

“Our belongings have been taken away from us, including money, and now we have nothing left,” she told Mana.

Chitseko recalls with a shudder groups of aggressive South Africans moving from house to house, ordering foreign nationals to leave and stay in camps to wait for assistance and transport back to their countries.

“Shouting ‘Phuma ezweni lethu’ (in Zulu language meaning go back to your country), is what we kept hearing as they dragged us from house to house to stay in camps together with many other people who had also been displaced,” Chitseko recalls.

Like Adam and Bwanali, Chitseko says she is grateful to have returned safely but she worries about how she will rebuild her life.

For years, South Africa has remained a destination for thousands of Malawians seeking employment and business opportunities as some work as domestic workers, builders, gardeners, security guards and traders, while others operate small businesses.

However, recurring xenophobic attacks have repeatedly disrupted those dreams.

According to Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) update released on June 15, government estimates that about 10,000 Malawians are in distress across South Africa following attacks targeting foreign nationals.

Government, through DoDMA, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Malawi High Commission in Pretoria, has launched a response to facilitate the safe return of affected citizens.

The interventions include deploying a government taskforce; processing emergency travel documents; transporting vulnerable migrants from camps; establishing reception facilities at Kamuzu Stadium and providing food, shelter and psychosocial support.

A DoDMA budget for the repatriation exercise estimates that about K24.7 billion is needed to support transportation, shelter, food, camp management, security, coordination and other related activities in both Malawi and South Africa.

Meanwhile, Wilson Moleni,Commissioner for DoDMA,says government is working closely with the Ministry and the High Commission in Pretoria to ensure Malawians return home safely.

He says the response started immediately after reports emerged that Malawians were suffering in Derby and surrounding areas.

“We sent a taskforce which includes health workers and immigration officials to work together with the High Commission in South Africa,” says Moleni

According to him, about 2,218 people have already returned home while another 514 are still on the way, with around 15,000 people remaining in camps with more resources needed to support their return.

Speaking at Kamuzu Stadium while receiving Malawians who returned from South Africa on Sunday, June 21, 2026, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr. George Chaponda, says the returnees should not view deportation as the end of their future.

He acknowledged that many Malawians travelled to South Africa in search of a better economic opportunity but instead encountered difficult and traumatic experiences.

Chaponda said government is committed to helping them reintegrate and rebuild their lives.

“We believe that with the skills you have acquired you can succeed here at home: Government has loan schemes through which people can access support to start business,” he explained, urging the returnees to apply for loans under the Malawi Enterprise Development Fund (MEDF)

As buses continue to arrive at Kamuzu Stadium carrying exhausted families from South Africa, stories of loss, fear and survival continue to emerge as some returnees have lost businesses built over many years, while others have left behind homes, jobs and possessions.

As Malawi welcomes back its citizens, the challenge now extends beyond bringing them home: it is about helping them heal, rebuild their livelihoods and restore the hope that first drove them to seek opportunities beyond the country’s borders.

For thousands of other Malawians fleeing xenophobic violence, the journey back home marks not only the end of a painful chapter but also the beginning of a new one.

Yet despite the pain, many still carry hope, and for Adam, returning home means safety for her unborn child and the hope to reunite with her husband, sooner or later.

On the other hand, for Bwanali, the return means raising her newborn baby in peace after giving birth under unimaginable circumstances.

As for Chitseko, the return means a chance to rebuild her saloon business from scratch through the skills that she possesses.