Life between cyclones: How Beira’s people carry the mental weight of storms that never really end  

Lying on a short bed in a stiflingly hot second floor apartment in Beira, I check the weather report, see that the tropical disturbance wallowing off the west coast of Madagascar has been upgraded to a moderate tropical storm called Gezani. It is a name contributed by the South African Weather Service to the World Meteorological Organisation ahead of this year’s South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season, but what does it mean? The internet delivers multiple answers. A name of Zulu origin, meaning “be satisfied”, or “complete”.