ZPSF News

Linda’s August Trip Report – ZPSF

On Sunday 25th August I left my home in Secunda for Malelane, ready to start another trip to Zimbabwe for the Zimbabwe Pensioner Support Fund. I spent the night in Malelane, at the home of Linda and Johan Schultz, ready for a very early start on Monday morning. The truck was packed, full of fuel, and raring to go, thanks to the hard work of Linda and her crew.

I was able to get away from the Warehouse just after 5am, Johan accompanied me a short way, in order to show me a
different route, due to roadworks in the gorge on the N4 there are delays of up to 2 hours, so was very grateful. I was alone until picking Attie up in Duiwelskloof, but all went very well and we arrived in Musina late afternoon. In Musina we have the use of rooms in the NGKerk, where we are able to park the truck safely, and we get a nice room with a bathroom! We had tea at the home of Joe Joubert, who always makes us so welcome, and Joe’s daughter, who works for the clearing agents, is always willing to bring the documents to us, saving us a lot of extra travelling in the truck.

Tuesday 27th – we were ready to do the crossing early, but due to the loss of some of our documents there was a delay, Joe and Hester Joubert very kindly treated us to a good breakfast, and by 11am we were advised that all was ready, and we headed for the border. The crossing went extremely well, and we were on our way to Bulawayo in good time, arriving just after 6pm. After a good supper we slept at Coronation Cottages that night.

Wednesday 28th – the original plan was to pack the truck and head for Gweru, but we soon realised that there was a lot of packing and planning to do, and decided that it would be best to get everything done and then head to Gweru early the next day. In the end this turned out to be a good decision as we had a flat tyre while travelling between the Warehouses in Bulawayo. It was a tiring day, finishing only after 9pm, so it was a good shower, an excellent braai and then BED!!

Thursday 29th – After a very welcome sleep, some coffee and biscuits, we were on the road to Gweru by 7am. This road is in excellent condition, after upgrading has been done, and we were in Gweru in good time. After offloading at both Boggies and HuisVergesig we were in KweKwe in time for an excellent lunch with Ken Connolly at the KweKwe Sports Club. After lunch we did the off load at the Home and then collected Diesel, supplied again by Ken Connolly, for which the fund is very grateful,
Thank you Ken. Our next stop was Kadoma, here we were able to do our off loading at the home first, and then went to the home of Clive and Estelle O’Reilly. Clive and Estelle always provide us with a really good stop over, a good meal and welcome bed. Very tired after a long day travelling and offloading, we had a wonderful meal and a most welcome early night.

Today was going to be another long one, so the wonderful breakfast that we were given was most welcome. We were on the
road soon after 7am, and heading towards Chinoyi. It went very well, and we were able to off load the boxes and then head towards Harare in good time. Harare is always a bit of a nightmare for me, the roads are busy, and I am not in familiar territory like I am in Bulawayo. The first stop was for diesel, which is very kindly supplied by Jim Forrester, Jim is another of our big supporters and we left the depot with both tanks full to capacity. The boxes for Harare are all off loaded at the home of Mike and Marion Futter, and they take care of the deliveries for us – a big help, and we are very grateful. After a quick chat we were on the road again, this time heading for Rusape. The folk at the home in Rusape are always pleased to see us, and make us very welcome. After offloading and a chat we had to get back on the road, as we were hoping to sleep in Mutare that night. The approach to Mutare, Christmas Pass, is having an upgrade, so there are big delays, it was now dark, and we had to
find a different way to the home of Des and Sally Becker, our hosts for the night. We finally arrived, very tired but very pleased with our days’ work. As they always do Des and Sally gave us a really good meal, and I was able to get into bed fairly early for a good sleep.

Saturday 31st – It was to be a busy morning, so the great breakfast was much appreciated. We had a lot of help from Des and his willing staff, the boxes had to be delivered, the empties collected, and then the truck packed with the boxes secure for the trip down to Masvingo. We left Mutare at 11am, so an excellent morning’s work, very grateful thanks to Des and his staff, it would not have been possible without them. We stop in Chivu with a few boxes on the way, and we arrived in Masvingo at about 5pm. In Masvingo we stay with Gerhard and Trudie Burger, another of the wonderful host families that we encounter in
Zimbabwe. We were treated to a special supper, a much needed shower, and I headed for my bed early, the driving starting to catch up with me.

Sunday 1st September – today the plan was to off load all the Masvingo boxes, reload the empties, and then head to Shurugwe and Zvishavane to off load their boxes. First was a really good breakfast though, most welcome! Once the empties were packed on the truck, we were back on the road to Zvishavane by 9am. We stopped as usual at the home of Lynn D’Ewes, where we had coffee and sandwiches, and then it was back on the road. WE made good time to Shurugwe, where we did the off load, and were given a box of huge avocado pears – they were so good. We then made our way back to Gweru, to collect all the empties, and then back to Bulawayo. It was decided that the work on the repacking of the warehouse and sorting of boxes etc. could
wait until Monday morning, so we were able to have a good shower, a wonderful meal – Hannes braaied us a really good supper, and then an early night.

Monday 2nd – this was to be a very busy day – there was a lot of work at the warehouse – one had to be emptied and the stock moved to another one in Khami Road, using the truck before Attie and I headed home. Once that was complete there was some
distributing to be completed in Bulawayo, and then home for a shower (only one kettle of water for my shower due to the shortage of electricity – but it was a good shower anyway!!) and then we had been invited out to dinner at friends of Hannes and Attie. Not too late home – alarm set for 3am as we had to get through the border and back to Malelane next day.

Tuesday 3rd – Were on the road before 4am, made good time, and were through the border before 10am, so really excellent. I left Attie in Duiwelskloof, and made my way back to Malelane. Up to Nelspruit everything went very well, but the roadworks on the N4 meant long delays, and I finally arrived at the Warehouse about 7:30pm. Fortunately Linda was expecting me and brought me a plate of really good food, and after packing my stuff from the truck to my Bakkie I fell into bed and sleep!!!!! I was up early and headed home, arriving just after 8am.

This trip was very rushed, as it had been delayed, and, because Attie had to be home before 5th, we had to really push ourselves, and the truck. Attie is still recovering from his Knee operation, so was unable to drive at all, in fact he had trouble getting in and out of the truck, so was in considerable discomfort a lot of the time. The main thing however is that the boxes all got delivered and the old folk have what they need.

We are always very grateful to the wonderful host families that we have in Zimbabwe, they always provide us with good meals, a most welcome shower (water and electricity allowing) and a good night’s sleep. We never leave any of them without a full breakfast and often some “padkos” as well. We also get regular supplies of fuel, which is much appreciated. Thank you to you all.

Some of the roads in Zim have been improved, and this makes a huge difference, but some of them really need some urgent repairs. The Police Roadblocks are still a real pain, they are everywhere, and they cause problems with the truck as the stopping breaks our momentum, some of them wave us through when they see who we are, but the truck battles to pick up speed again, especially when we are still fully laden.

Although I found it very tiring it was a good trip, the appreciation of the old folk, and the friendliness of the people
we meet makes it very worthwhile.

 

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Linda’s June Trip Report – ZPSF

 June 2013 Trip Report – Linda Schultz

After a few delays with Hannes (Dad) ending up full of flu and so on we finally left at 4am on Thursday the 20th of June. We were lucky and had a fairly uneventful trip to the border. Once there we went through the SA side quite easily and it looked like we were going to have the same luck on the Zims side. However this was not meant to be as their systems were off line. So after a long delay we finally got through the Zims side after about 1.5 – 2 hours delay.

So there I was back in Zimbabwe after not being home for over 20years. We left the border and headed straight for Bulawayo, arriving there just after 5.30pm. We first stopped off by Ann from the Verity Amm Soup Kitchen to double check the arrangements for Saturdays Mothers / Father’s day function. This done we finally got to Corronation Cottages where we were going to be staying while in Bulawayo (A big Thank you to Enid and Co.)

Friday morning we were up at 6am and left just before 7am for the storage facility. Once there we loaded up stock and went to where I was going to be packing the boxes. So after a few trips up and down I had most of the stock there needed as well as enough empty boxes. The first load of 108 boxes were set out and we started packing while Hannes went to sort out the final goodies for the function the next day and see where we could get maize meal in large quantities of 2kg’s. Bearing in mind I only had 3.5 days to pack all the boxes for the individuals and kitchens. Luckily I had mentally prepared myself for this challenge of note and managed to pack and label over 200 boxes on Friday with the aid of 4 helpers.

After packing the boxes on Friday we left for Food Lovers Market where we were planning on purchasing the veggies for the potjie being done the next day. We were lucky to meet Mr Paul Kruger there who donated most of the lovely veggies. While I had been packing boxes Hannes had been to Chris Andrilakas from Heads and Hooves who was supplying the 10kg short rib. We also had Sheralee and Dave Tayler who donated through contacts of their own, 10kg Oxtail and a ton of fresh veggies and some cool drink. There are also lots of other sponsors who I would like to say THANKS to, you all know who you are.

Saturday morning the alarm went off way too early and we were up and rearing to go just after 5am. Soon after we had the fire going and the no. 20 potjie pot on top of it warming up. Trust me cutting up meat and so on just after 5 was no small challenge, but a warm cup of coffee always helps to put things in perspective. Finally after 6 we started to see some life and I had the privilege of meeting Geoff Kolbe who maintains the newly planted Verity Amm orchard. I am not sure how old he is but at his age to be carrying around buckets of water for the plants is not on. So after speaking Hannes we decided to make a quick call to SA and to ask Johan (My other half) who would be coming up on the truck with Boet to purchase a hosepipe and some fertilizer and bring it up with them. As you can imagine this was well received.

So back to the potjie, after cooking from literally 5.30am we finally had everything ready to eat just after 1.30pm. This was after splitting the meat into a second pot so we could add the veggies. By this time the hall was already full with the 120 plus pensioners. The Verity Amm staff had once again gone full out and made sure the hall was looking lovely, there was also a small present for each of the Golden Oldies for the Mothers / Father’s Day function. And trust me our Golden Oldies did justice to the hall, they were dressed in their best for the occasion. By the time the lunch was finished I had already shed more than my share of tears for the day, to see such gratitude and thanks over something that many of us take for granted was heart wrenching. But at least by the end of the day we had a lot of happy smiling pensioners.

Sunday morning we were up at about 6.30am and left just after 7 for the packing site. Again we had to transport stock up and down as well as boxes, but again we managed to pack almost 300 boxes. As they say no rest for the wicked and I had serious deadlines to meet. Here I must say a big Thanks to P.J Bakkes who lent us his bakkie, having the use of 2 bakkies made things a lot easier. Sunday Hannes managed to drop off the boxes at Masonic Lodge already.

By Monday morning we were starting to crack and stressing out, getting some of the basic goods was proving to be a real challenge, not to even mention the cost. It totally sent my mind into a flat spin. The using of US$ is definitely a costly one. A normal small bottle of Hand Cream is $7.99 which at that stage was basically the equivalent of R79.90 and here I moan when pay R27 for a bottle. Rice, maize all the basics had some really scary price tags. Fresh veggies I don’t even want to go there. The one thing that has always stuck in my mind was the Cheese you get there, so of course I went looking for local cheese. For a small block of cheese it was $4.79, converted to rands is R47.90.

By Monday evening all the individual boxes were packed and all I had left to do were the kitchen, frail care and additional help parcels for those in Railstein. By this time we were also anxiously awaiting the truck with the additional stock it was carrying as well as the desperately needed empty apple boxes we use to put the goodies in. We had also managed to drop off the boxes by Kingshaven Moths in Esigodini.

Tuesday morning dawned and once again we were up early and getting the final items ready for the trucks arrival. From what I understand they flew through the border in record time and finally got to us in Bulawayo just after 1pm. Then the work really started. We offloaded stock we were short as well as empty boxes. Once the truck left to go drop the stock off at our storage facility me and my team of helpers got busy putting the stock into the boxes labeling them and doing a final name list check. Then we got the boxes in order ready to load when the truck returned. This we managed to do with reasonable ease considering I did not have my usual team I use in SA who are old hats at loading the trucks with me. We finished this off just after 6.30pm.

Wednesday we were up at the crack of dawn to get all the last minute goodies done and loaded onto the truck. Hannes and Boet managed to leave for Gweru their first stop just after 11am. Once they had left we then proceeded to deliver the boxes to the kitchens in Bulawayo as well as all the outsiders. Here we managed to surprise a lot of our Golden Oldies with and addition bucket hamper (Donated by Pick n Pay Malelane). One of our Golden Oldies almost burst into tears when we told her that she could keep the Bucket as well as its contents. She was over the moon as the water had come on an hour earlier than usual and she now had an extra container to store water in before it was switched off again. The amount of hugs and kisses and words of extreme gratitude brought me to tears more than once during the afternoon. I work to raise the funds and do the office admin, being on the ground like this was tearing me emotionally apart. Seeing for the first time what the funds I beg from all of you mean to our Golden Oldies in their food parcels. A box of oats to warm them up for their breakfast brings tears of Thanks!!

Thursday and Friday were also hectic days. Saturday we decided to chill a bit and we went to the Motopus Hills and Worlds View. Although there was a decided lack of animals this was a special day for my little family as they got to see a bit of my history. We ended the day at the old Rhodesian Train Museum. I literally took hundreds of photos and will be posting some of them on my FB page for those who would like to have a look.

Sunday saw us waiting for Hannes and Boet to get back from doing the deliveries all over the rest of Zimbabwe. While they were tired we ended the day with a lovely braai.

Monday and Tuesday we did the last of the deliveries around Bulawayo. This included the additional help parcels to Railstein. These Pensioners are really on the bottom of the food chain and the conditions they live in are terrible. A lot of them rely on the Verity Amm Soup Kitchen for their daily meal. For my son (Frans 14) who was with us on this trip this was a real eye opener and a lesson in that you never take anything for granted.

Wednesday saw Johan and Boet up at 3am and leaving in the truck just before 4am. We were up just before 6am to also get on the road. However things never go as planned and we finally managed to leave Bulawayo just before 10am. The border passing went a lot quicker on the way out and soon we really were on the road home. We finally arrived back in Malelane just after 8pm the truck arriving about 10mins before us.

To all our supporters out there I cannot explain seeing what these food hampers mean to our Golden Oldies, for so many of them they are the difference between surviving and not surviving. The one thing I will say is most of our Golden Oldies still have that wonderful strong spirit of “never die / never give up”. I can truly tell you first hand that YOU make a WORLD of DIFFERENCE in THEIR LIVES!!!

For me going home after so many years, it was a challenge. Zimbabwe is still a beautiful country with amazing possibilities. I however will never complain about the roads in SA again. But overall it was once again a successful trip and even more so as it was the first one where we have packed the boxes in Bulawayo.

Thank you for enabling us, you are the true heroes here!!!

Boxes and Buckets being delivered at Boggies Trust Geoff Kolbe Potjie cooked at Verity Amm

Geoff Kolbe
Geoff Kolbe
Boxes and Buckets being delivered at Boggies Trust
Boxes and Buckets being delivered at Boggies Trust

 

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ZPSF Trip Report – March 2013

On Tuesday 19th March 2013 I once again left home to assist on a trip to Zimbabwe for the ZPSF. After meeting up with Attie in Maleleane we took the fully laden trucks through to Attie’s home in Duiwelskloof, and spent the night there. We spent the next morning getting our things sorted onto the trucks and getting some “padkos” together, leaving for Musina after lunch, arriving there just after 5pm. In Musina we stayed at the NG Church, they allowed us to sleep in their Church rooms, which was very comfortable, we provide our own stretchers and bedding, but use their ablution facilities, and most importantly there is room to park the trucks on the premises, with a locked gate. A friend of Attie, Joe Joubert delivered all our paperwork for the border to us, which means we can check it all out, and are ready for the crossing the next morning.

Thursday 21st March – We had a really good crossing into Zimbabwe, arriving at 06:00 and leaving by 08:30 – it is not often that we are able to clear so quickly, but it meant that even with so many road blocks en route we were in Bulawayo by lunchtime. I had been driving the UD 80, and Attie the UD90 until now, but the 80 was left in Bulawayo, as it was loaded with goods that were to be distributed by Hannes in Bulawayo. After offloading some of the excess goods at the warehouse in Bulawayo, Attie and I carried on to Gweru and KweKwe. We were still making good time, but near Bembezi the left front tyre blew .Fortunately we were going slower due to road works, and were able to pull over safely. As he always does the Good Lord sent a Samaritan to our aid, he was called Eddington, and he told us that he had seen our trucks in Zimbabwe before, and today he and his driver were going to change the tyre for us. Eddington works for a company that delivers BMW vehicles in Zim, and while they were busy with our tyre he got a call to say that he needed to go back to Gweru so we were able to repay him with a lift back, and his driver continued on his way back to Francistown. We were now way behind time, and had to leave the Gweru deliveries for the next day, as we had an appointment for Dinner in KweKwe with the old folk there. We only arrived in KweKwe at 20:00, but we were treated to a great meal and a couple of drinks at the Club there. This had been arranged by our host in KweKwe, Ken Connolly, and some of the folk from the Home were also there, a really good evening.

Friday 22nd March – we had to retrace our steps back to Gweru to do the deliveries there, there are 2 homes and some outsiders, so quite a bit of offloading, but once completed we were able to get back to do deliveries in Redcliff and KweKwe. Ken had once again come to our rescue – while we were in Gweru he had organised a spare tyre and some fuel for us, what a relief as we had anticipated having to travel without a spare – what wonderful people we meet on our travels. Our next stop was Kadoma, and there while we were offloading Estelle, who is one of the people who always assist us, arrived with cokes and Cornish pasties for our lunch, most welcome as it was 14:30 and breakfast was a long time ago!! From here it was on to Chinoyi, where we arrived at 1730. Despite our late arrival a lot of the pensioners from the area were waiting eagerly for their boxes, and with so much help we were able to get away fairly quickly, we had to get to Harare to sleep that night. It was 20:00 before we arrived at our hosts, John and Leonie Herbst, for the night.

Saturday 23rd March – After a good night – good food, good company and a great bed – it was off to deliver the Harare boxes and collect diesel – once again the diesel was donated to our cause by Jim Forrester, always a wonderful friend for the fund. Our first stop after leaving Harare, en route to Mutare, is always Rusape. The home at Rusape is always waiting for us, with tea, sandwiches and the folk there never let us go without a good chat, it is a stop that we always enjoy. We finally arrived in Mutare at 4pm, where our good friends Des and Sally Becker were waiting for us. They always give a lot of help with the delivery of the boxes, using their own transport to assist. They also always provide great food, a good chat to catch up on all the news, and  a most welcome bed.

Sunday 24th March – Today the plan was to do deliveries at Chivhu, and then to sleep at Masvingo, hopefully doing the Masvingo deliveries before dark. It is a long drive, but we managed to deliver in Chivhu, and get to Masvingo by 15:00. Our hosts in Masvingo – Gerhard and Trudie Burger, were in SA, but they had left everything we needed for a comfortable stop over. Johnnie Nel and all the staff assisted in offloading, so we were able to get finished, and enjoy some supper and a much needed early night.

Monday 25th March – we were able to get a very early start, and were in Zvishavane by breakfast and what a breakfast we were given. The boxes for this area are delivered to private homes, by Lynn Dewes, and once they were off loaded we were presented with a wonderful breakfast, everything on our plates that we had been dreaming of!! The next stop was Shurugwe, to off load a few boxes there, and then Gweru to pick up the empty boxes from the homes there. Now we were on our way back to Bulawayo, the truck only had empty boxes, so the trip went really well. In Bulawayo we sleep at Coronation Cottages, a room is supplied to us, and Hannes provided us with a wonderful meal.

Once back in Bulawayo it was the end of our deliveries, and we had a day off. We were very tired after chasing all round Zimbabwe, and the trip home is quite long. Also we were collecting the UD80 to take it back to Malelane, so would both be alone in our trucks for the trip, always more tiring than having company. On Tuesday I was able to meet 2 old friends, and it was nice to have time to sort the truck and my case out etc. We left Bulawayo very early on Wednesday 27th March, and had a good run to Beit Bridge, and once again a good crossing into SA. Attie was home  by afternoon, and I was able to get to Malelane with the UD80 by 7pm. It is a long haul, Bulawayo to Malelane, so I slept over in the Warehouse that night, heading home very early the next morning. Linda, Hannes daughter brought me a good meal when I arrived – most welcome as you can imagine.

Some thoughts on Zimbabwe and the trip – The roads are still in very poor condition, with little or no maintenance being done, heavy vehicles are doing a lot of damage. The last time we were there in January it looked as though they would have decent crops, a lot of rain had fallen, but sadly this does not seem to have carried through in all areas, and now especially in the South, the crops look to be beyond help. The landscape North of KweKwe and Masvingo is green, but South is very dry and there is little or no ground cover. As always we were given so much help from people on the ground, in the form of help with the trucks – fuel, a tyre, roadside assistance, etc. Then there are the folk who help with accommodation, food, a good night’s rest, all makes such a difference. Last but not least there are the pensioners themselves, everywhere we stop they are always waiting, no matter how late we are, and always want to give us something from the little they have, a cup of tea, a sandwich, and often they just need someone different to have a  chat to. These trips to Zimbabwe have become a part of my life now, and I feel very privileged to have been part of this wonderful mission.

Boet Holmes

Stock purchased for Easter trip
Stock purchased for Easter trip
Muus Lodge
Muus Lodge
Happy pensioners at Masonic Lodge
Happy pensioners at Masonic Lodge
Boxes being dropped off for Lynbrook Homes
Boxes being dropped off for Lynbrook Homes
Blow out on UD 90
Blow out on UD 90

 

 

 

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