Before we start with the adventure that was this trip. I would like to give a big thanks to our supporters for the donations, a great thanks to Heymans Kole for the donation of Fuel and to Vit for a donation of fuel to keep the trip going. A great thanks to all of our donors that help to make these trips posable and to all of the help that we receive throughout the trips. Let’s get started with our Trip.
Friday, 18 April 2025
As we get ready for the start of a new trip to Zim we encountered a bit of a problem. Neels had forgotten his passport in Johannesburg, that would mean that the bakkie would have to go past Johannesburg to pick up his passport.
19 April 2025
Saturday would be a very interesting day as we left early in the morning around 6:30 for the trip to Johannesburg and then to Musina where we would be spending our night before hitting the border. We slept at the Baobab Guest Cottages in Musina. We would have an early morning ahead of us.
20 April 2025
Sunday morning, we left Musina bright and early. As it was nearing the end of Easter weekend the road was very quiet. We hit the border nice and early where the truck side was quite busy. The small vehicle side was very quiet. We got through the border quickly. We had taught ourselves how to do the online TIP which makes things a lot easier. We waited by the Baobab for Robert and Neels with the truck so that we could shoot through to Bulawayo. The road was very quiet all the way to Bulawayo. We had around 10 police roadblocks between Beitbridge and Bulawayo. It was the most I have ever seen on that road. We got to Bulawayo where we parked the truck at the warehouse, and then we headed to Caroline and Willems house where we would be spending the night. For dinner we had some soup and bread. We went to sleep early because we had to get the truck packed for the trip. We would be spending our first night of the trip at Boggies in Gweru.
21 April 2025
Monday, we woke up a little later than usual. We left the house to see how far the team was with loading the truck so we could get all our stuff ready for the round trip. Once the truck was packed, we got ready to leave where we said our farewells to everybody and we hit the road. We left Bulawayo at 10AM. The road was very quiet all the way to Gweru because it was a public holiday Easter Monday. We got to Boggies Trust in Gweru at 1PM here we would be dropping off 20 Boxes for Boggies Trust, 4 Boxes for the CFU, 11 Boxes for Huisvergesig and 5 Boxes for outsiders, 40 boxes in total, here Bruce was waiting for us at the gate ready for us to enter. We would only be offloading the truck the next morning because the workers were not there because of it being a public holiday. We had some rest and chatted a bit with Bruce. We treated ourselves to some pork cheese grillers for dinner a nice and easy meal for 2 men on the road.
22 April 2025
We were up before the Sun – Thanks Neels, waiting for some assistance that would only show up at 7 AM so we could offload the truck. We had a nice long day planned ahead of us as we had to get to Chinhoyi where we would be spending the night. Once the truck was offloaded, we left Gweru at 7:20 AM. We had a very quiet trip to Redcliff as we arrived there around 8:45AM. We offloaded the 24 boxes for insiders and outsiders at Hurbert Lee and had a bit of a chat with the residents, we then left to head out for Kwekwe.
We made good time and as we got there, we could see everybody was waiting for us. We offloaded 16 Boxes for Lynbrook Home, 6 Boxes for the CFU and 26 Boxes for outsiders from the truck and had a bit of a chat with the residents. Our next stop would be Kadoma. The road was very quiet on our way to Kadoma. We offloaded the 29 boxes from the truck for residents and outsiders at Westview Home in Kadoma where we noticed that time was not on our side, we had to be a little faster if we wanted to be in Chinhoyi before dark.
We then left Kadoma to head for Chegutu and Greenways Trust. Once we had arrived, we dropped the 12 Boxes and had a small chat with Kendal. We then left for the last stretch to Chinhoyi. We got to Sunningdale Cottages in Chinhoyi around 4PM where we noticed that they had upgraded their gate to support the size of the truck making it easier to enter the premises. The residents were waiting for us. Once we had stopped, we started to offload the truck, here we deliver 33 Boxes to the Cottages, 5 to Self-catering Flats and 11 to outsiders a total of 49 Boxes. Johan Haasbroek then joined us a little while in while we were offloading the truck. I (Frans) then took this time after we offloaded the truck to repack the empties in the truck so that they would not fall over on the trip. Once I was done, we headed to Johan Haasbroek’s house where we would be spending the night. We rested a bit and had a braai for dinner. I cooked some pork chops and boere wors for us on the fire. Some of the residents made some salads and Johan made a potato salad, we had a nice big dinner. We went to sleep early because Johan had to get up early for a fishing trip and we had to get to Harare to drop boxes at John and Leonie Herbst as well as get fuel from Vit.
23 April 2025
This would be a nice a quiet day because we only had a few stops. We had left Chinhoyi early, our first trial of the day would be at the first tollgate where they would not let us through because our toll slip had us planned out on a different route, luckily Neels had sorted it out and they let us through free of charge. We then made our way to Harare, luckily the rest of the road was quiet. We got to John and Leonie’s house where unfortunately they were not there. The house workers had helped us to offload the truck of the 6 Boxes for Mazoe Valley Trust, 9 Kariba Boxes, 37 Harare Outsider Boxes, 4 Chivhu Boxes and 47 CFU boxes. A total of 103 boxes delivered here, then we were off to Vit’s fuel depot at Concrete Construction for the donation of diesel. One again a huge thanks to Vit for the generous fuel donation. We then left Harare to head for Marondera where we would meet Peter Banks’s son-in-law to drop the 2 boxes for Marondera. Our last stop for the day would be in Rusape at Resthaven. We got to the gate and there was no one there to open for us as the gate was locked, luckily one of the residents came to help and got the security guard to unlock the gate for us so we could enter. We then offloaded the 27 boxes from the truck under the very watchful eye of Tony who manages the clipboard with great efficiency and had some coffee and treats that the residents made for us and a really delicious peri-peri chicken with salad in a take-away parcel which we kept for Padkos for the following day. We then headed to our place where we would be spending the night. There was no power until around 7PM. I had a nice and early night as he next day would be a very long one where we would stop in Mutare and then head for Masvingo where we would be spending the night. It is humbling to experience the generosity of people who have so little and yet give so much and this is evident wherever we stop on our trip. The spirit and camaraderie are at another level.
24 April 2025
We got up very early. We left Rusape around 6:30 to get to Mutare nice and early as that is where most of our boxes would be offloaded. We got to Mutare Before the Mutare team had arrived. We were a few minutes early. Once the team had arrived, they had started to offload the truck. Here we would be delivering 31 boxes to Eastern Highlands Trust, 3 Boxes for Nyanga via Des, 57 boxes for S.O.A.P Mutare (Outsiders), 9 Boxes for Murambi, 15 Boxes for Strickland. A total of 115 boxes as well as 22 care parcels for those eating from the kitchen which we supply with bulk food plus some basic medical goods, Unfortunately, Des was not available as he had some business in Harare. Once the truck was offloaded, we had repacked the truck to make space for all the Mutare empties. We then left Mutare to head for Masvingo where we would be spending the night. The road was very quiet and long as it was the longest stretch of the trip. We made very good time and got into Masvingo early where Sister Connie was waiting for us with her team ready to help offload the truck. Here we drop off 4 Boxes for Emslie Close, 12 Boxes for Pioneer Cottages, 4 Care Parcels for those eating from the kitchen which we supply with bulk food plus some basic medical goods, 20 outsider Boxes and 4 Boxes for Chiredzi We had a few chats with the residents and some of the outsiders. It was awesome to see Jimmy Millar in such good spirit as always. Once we were done offloading, we went to the kitchen where they had prepared a lunch for us. For lunch we had some carrot sticks, broccoli and some sweet pork. We then headed to our flat where we would be spending the night. We rested for the rest of the day and had a nice and early night. The next day would be the final stretch of the round trip.
25 April 2025
Once again we were up early and ready to hit the road. We had a tight time schedule because we had to get to Bulawayo before Colbro closed because we needed to get some fuel as a donation from Colbro. Another thanks to Tinashi for the diesel donation, it really helps us a lot. We got to Zvishavane where we waited for Mike Timvios to load the 2 boxes for Zvishavane. The next part of the trip would be one of the worst roads in Zim on my opinion. The mountain pass between Zvishavane and Shurugwi. Luckily the road was quiet, and we could get through the mountain pass on our own time. Once we stopped there, we started to offload the truck with the last 10 boxes for this round trip as we had some chats with the residents. One of the old pensioners came to say hello. Old uncle Billy Frankis. Once we had finished offloading, we left for Gweru where we would load the empties and then the final stretch for Bulawayo. Once we had loaded the empties in Gweru it was time to race to Bulawayo to see if we would make it in time for the diesel donation. Luckily, we made it in time for the diesel. Once we entered Bulawayo we had to drive on specific roads as they were busy with the trade fair, a lot of the roads were closed and had a lot of police on them, luckily we didn’t have to change our route by too much as most of the commotion was in the centre of town. Once we were done grabbing the diesel we then headed to the warehouse. We stopped at the warehouse where the team and Johan was waiting for us so we could offload the truck, once done we then left the tuck at the warehouse and headed to Caroline and Willem’s house where we rested for the rest of the day.
26 April 2025
We had a very chill day, we made a curry potjie and had some bunny chows for dinner. We listened to music and had a great time celebrating another successful trip.
27 April 2025
I Left Bulawayo at 5AM to head through to South Africa as I was doing a one-day trip back home. The border was a breeze, the roads were quiet.
Frans: Just a special thanks to all of the people that make these trips possible, without the constant help of all of our donors and the team we would not be able to do these trips. I now my oupa would be proud of what we are continuing to do here and it is amazing being a part of the fund. Thank you to everyone for making this posable.
Neels: Thank you to Johan and Linda who are tireless in their efforts to raise funds and arrange for the goodies to be transported to Bulawayo and also for affording me the opportunity to give back a little of my time to the old folk that are struggling in Zimbabwe. They really need the help and generosity shown by all the benefactors of the ZPSF.
Head office South Africa contact details:
Linda Schultz – linda@zpsf.co.za / zpsf@zpsf.onmicrosoft.com – (C) 079 6082676
Johan Schultz – johan@zpsf.co.za – (C) 082 4979328
Section 21 Co Reg. 2007/034036/08; NPO Number 096733; Section 18A PBO No 930031642
