This was my first trip with the Zimbabwe Pensioners Support Fund as an employee. I have been involved for as long as I can remember. Some of my first memories are of Oupa Hannes packing Spar packets in the backyard on a tarpaulin, later playing in the warehouse building make believe castles with empty boxes while the team were packing boxes and preparing for trips. Now I can follow in my Oupa’s footsteps doing what I always wanted to do, it almost feels like a permanent holiday (Wishful Thinking), preparing for visits to Zimbabwe and traveling the most beautiful countryside and meeting the most amazing old people with the most fascinating stories.


Friday 22 November 2024
After a very busy few weeks preparing for the Christmas trip, we finally left Malane just after 8AM. I was fortunate to have my Granny, Edith with me in the bakkie who helped to start the Fund with my Oupa. She was going up to visit with family still in Zimbabwe and also to catch up with a few of our Golden Oldies. Due to road blockages in Bushbuck Ridge we had to go through Sabie, Graskop, Tzaneen to Louis Trichardt. The road was absolutely amazing via the Blyde River Canyon. We slept in Louis Trichardt at a guest house called Gateway. Edith (Granny) and I arrived a little before the truck and waited a while for Johan to arrive. My dad (Johan) had arrived a little into the F1 qualifying race which we watched in the bar room while we enjoyed a few cold ones before dinner. We had dinner and we talked about what we were doing this trip and planning it out as thoroughly as we could keeping in mind that things are very fluid and can change without warning.
Saturday 23 November 2024
We were up early for the short trip to the border. We stopped at Baobab garage to fill up with fuel before crossing the border. The border was quiet for us in the bakkie, and we were in Zimbabwe in no time. The truck had a few more hoops to jump through due to the border being busy on the truck side. Me and Edith (Granny) left before the truck was done, as it was very hot, and we couldn’t wait for the truck, so we headed to Bulawayo. We arrived in Bulawayo just after 2PM. We waited for Johan to arrive with the truck, he had to go through the x-ray scanner and was up to be searched. He arrived around 8PM and we followed him to the warehouse to help unload the truck and to take him to Caroline and Willems house where we spent the night.
Sunday 24 November 2024
We had a very slow start to the Sunday as it was Willems birthday and Johan had one heck of a day on Saturday and needed a small down time to catch his breath. We enjoyed a quiet family day and went bowling a little in the afternoon at Hillside Bowling Club and ended the day with a braai in the evening.
Monday 25 November 2024
The next morning, we were off to load the truck when we wanted to leave, I noticed that the bakkies back tire looked a little flat. It seemed we got a slow puncher on the bakkie somewhere during our travels. We left for the nearest garage where we pumped up the tire and headed for the warehouse. We loaded the truck and left Bulawayo around 12PM. Our first stop would be Gweru. We arrive at around 3PM to offload the truck as we were spending the night in Gweru at Boggies Trust. Rickie and BJ Lawrie came to pick up the boxes from Huis Vergesig and the Gweru outsiders. Once I was done, offloading the truck, I helped hand out the boxes and Christmas gifts. All the folks were so thankful and chuffed with the contents of the Christmas gifts. We reloaded the empty boxes and thereafter, we went to our room where Bruce Chilcott and BJ Lawry joined us for a drink while chatting with us for a while. It was really great to catch up and spend some time with good folks. We then had dinner which was a few hotdogs that we made and headed to bed.
Tuesday 26 November 2024
We were up early and left Gweru at 6:30 in the morning with a cup of coffee on hand. We were heading for Harare, missing our usual stops in Redcliff, Kadoma Kwekwe, Chegutu and Chinhoyi. The load for the Christmas boxes were too heavy for one truck and Hannes Jovner for a fee from Bulawayo was assisting and doing those deliveries. The road was very quiet and in excellent condition. We took the Harare Road via Mvuma. When we entered Harare at the first circle just after the tollgate, there were road works and they were very confusing with traffic using a slipway as a dual road, this was hairy with lots of near misses. We relied on the Garmin guiding us through Harare to get to John and Leonie Herbst house. We got there fairly early, and we had offloaded the truck and chilled a bit before John and Leonie arrived home after work. In between the CFU chaps had been and gone with their boxes. John did a braai for dinner and we had time to catch up a bit before heading to bed.
Wednesday 27 November 2024
The next morning, we left Harare at 7:10 after a cup of coffee with Leonie. We headed to Vit at Concreate Structures for a fuel to up. We are ever thankful for the donation, and it was good to see the guys again. The next stop would be Marondera where we would drop two boxes. We had some reception challenges on the way, and we had a short stop in Marondera before we were back on the road after we received our delicious Brownies that Mrs Phillys Banks made for us as “Padkos”. After that we headed to Rusape where we had coffee and something to eat. We chatted with the oldies, and it was a lot of fun listening to the stories they had to share with us. As always there was a crowd to greet us and we had Shiela Foulis loading a plate of goodies for us to make sure we have something to eat. Once we were done there it was off to Mutare. Just after Christmas Pass, as we entered Mutare there were road works on our usual route to Des’s warehouse. With all the road closures, even the Garmin was confused. After a few U-turns we stopped at Des’s warehouse and started unpacking the truck and checking the names as well as the boxes for the kitchens. Des and Sally Bekker arrived, double checked that all was in order. The staff was elated to see there was parcels and gifts for them as well. This once-a-year treat makes their Christmas so much more special and a little thank you from us for their assistance throughout the year.
We left the warehouse after reloading and re-arranging the last of the goodie boxes with Des and Sally to their house where we would be spending the night. They had planned for us to go out to Hillside golf club to eat dinner. The Golf club was buzzing, and we chatted and had a few laughs. It was tons of fun. After a very good meal, we headed back to Des’s place where we rested for the evening.
Thursday 28 November 2024
The next morning, we left Mutare at 6:30am where our first stop would be Pioneer Trust in Masvingo. It was an interesting stop to say the least. Everything went as planned with offloading the boxes and chatting with the residents when all of a sudden, we heard someone yell “snake” where I was the first to respond. It was a spitting cobra laying in the parking area. Not something we were expecting to see on our trip. We chased it off and continues chatting with Jimmy Miller and sister Connie. After that we were off to Zvishavane where we only had to drop two boxes instead of three as we had learned that Mrs. Lettie Ugeletti had passed about a month ago. Mike Timvios relayed the sad news. Our next stop was back at Bulawayo where the road was fine except the last tollgate where they had problems with their system. We landed back in Bulawayo just after 5PM. Where we went back to Willem and Caroline’s house. Where we would spend the night. We had another great meal and were off to bed early after a long day.
Friday 29 November 2024
Our next morning was a bit of a late start, we went to visit Coronation Cottages where we spoke to the office ladies and got a few updates, some of the local gossip and we had a few visitors at the cottage that we chatted to. We then went to visit Mima Smith in Mater Dei hospital after her operation. She had a bad fall and ended up in breaking her hip. Her son was there as well, we chatted a bit and we gave her some flowers. She was in good spirit and mild pain but seemed to be doing well. This is an unfortunate reality for many of our Golden Oldies, a simple fall and bones are broken. We spent another night with Willem and mentally prepared to go back South.
Saturday 30 November 2024
The next day was us heading for the border where the road was quiet, and we had no problems. I had stopped off at Paxi Watson to drop off het box, she tried with all her might to extend the visit with lots of little stories and comments, and finally we were heading for the border. We arrived at the border at just after 11PM where we went through with no problems thanks to Robert. We entered back into South Africa and travelled to Louis Trichardt where we would be spending the night at Gateway Lodge. We waited for Johan to arrive with the truck where he got there around 5PM. Johan got stuck on the SA side in the truck traffic as it was shift-change time for the border staff. After a 4-hour delay, he was on the way and arrived in Louis Trichardt. We had a few beers and an excellent dinner. We chatted a bit about the trip, and then we were off to bed.
Sunday 1 December 2024
The truck left bright and early and as we were in the bakkie we left a bit later knowing we would catch up to the truck, or so we thought. The road was calm up until halfway through Bushbuck Ridge where we had a blowout. Luckily, I was about 50 meters away from a petrol station where I could safely stop to change the tire. Once we were done there, we headed back on the road letting everyone know that we were alright and on the move again. We arrived in Malelane at around 16:30.
PS. A big thanks to everyone involved in making the trip happen and enabling us to do what we do. A special thank to all the donors that adopted our oldies and made the Christmas parcels so much more special it was so well received, and the feedback was phenomenal.
None of this is possible without all of you out there who enable us to keep doing what we do. This is real people caring for and helping real people.
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 – 082 4979328
Section 21 Co Reg. 2007/034036/08; NPO Number 096733; Section 18A PBO No 930031642






















































































