Dear Zimbabwe Pensioner Support Fund Supporters and Friends,
Please find in good order an update on what we are up to currently as well as Daniel Koekemoer’s portion of the trip report for our March trip. Always an awesome read to see things from Dans perspective especially since he has not been up in over a year. A BIG thank you from all of us for your assistance and sacrifice in helping us deliver the food aid to our Golden Oldies.
A quick update on Hannes our Chief who started this life saving Fund in 2002. He received his second round of Chemo on the 7th April 2021. As we all know there are good days and bad days. He is in good spirits and still positive. We would like to thank everyone for the well wishes and prayers received so far. On the last trip we collected as many well wish video clips as possible to cheer him up. Hannes being Hannes is also attempting to come into the office at least one day a week to keep both Johan and me on our “toes” and ensuring the ship is still sailing smoothly. He is a firm believer that this will not get him down and he is going to carry on living as normally as possible!!
We are busy preparing for our next trip scheduled to take place in about 2 weeks’ time now. The stock has come in and the paperwork is in motion. So, on that front we are looking good. As usual the word coming out of Zimbabwe is hectic and so the plan is to try and stick to our every 6 week trip schedule this year as much as possible. Thus, ensuring everyone gets their aid when it is needed.
Nobody is being spared from the craziness in Zimbabwe at the moment. The cost of everything is going through the roof, with monthly increases that are beyond belief. For those earning an income, its almost impossible to survive as things currently stand, now imagine having little to no income at all, being dependent on the kindness and support of others. It is truly heartbreaking that a generation that worked hard their whole lives, made adequate provision for their old days should have to go through something like this not once but twice. For most of our Golden Oldies we are the only additional support they have, & these boxes are literally lifesaving.
Getting to know some of our Biggest Supporters / Donors please support them how and where you can.
- Rhodesisans worldwide Magazine (Keeping the memories alive and the world in touch)- https://rhodesians-worldwide.com/
2. Official Rhodesian Services Association of Western Australia Incorporated – www.rhodesianassociation.com
- The ZPSF is happy to announce that TIMOT, a book on National Parks legend Tim Braybrooke is available, and all the proceeds are for the ZPSF.
Make no mistake, Timot’s world was often fraught with hidden dangers where not everyone returned home in one piece. A colleague was killed by a lion, another mauled by a leopard and yet another gored by a buffalo. And then of course, there was the bush war to contend with. Luck, however, was on Timot’s side. He was the real deal in the world of National Parks and wildlife conservation in Rhodesia. When only 28 and with a young wife and two small sons, Tim Braybrooke became the youngest warden in the country, in a remote, undeveloped game park on the Mozambique border. It was teeming with aggressive elephant and far away from civilisation, but by the time he left, he and his team had done a great job. They all went on to make their mark in the country’s national parks, and some, like Timot, set up their own successful safaris. Timot was born in Salisbury and eventually went to Plumtree School, where he met his friend-for-life, Storm Stenslunde. What they got up to and got away with at such a young age is the stuff of legend.
- “How I Came to be Rhodesian” is a family history covering nine generations in Africa, and a memoir of a Rhodesian childhood. This family history covers nine generations in Africa, from the arrival in Cape Town of my Huguenot ancestors in 1698. That’s on my maternal side. My Dad’s ancestors are relative newcomers, having arrived in the Eastern Cape a mere two hundred years ago, in 1820. I’m pleased to have donated another $50 USD to Zimbabwe Pensioner Support Fund (ZPSF), being the proceeds from book sales in February and March 2021. That’s the entire royalty ($5 per copy sold) donated to this little family-run charity which punches so high above its weight. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=how+i+came+to+be+rhodesian&i=stripbooks-intl-ship&crid=1Z05BU58YDPZ&sprefix=How+I+Came+%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C731&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_11
Some backround on how the ZPSF started.
In January 2002 Hannes Botha received an appeal for help from a pensioner in Bulawayo Zimbabwe. The pensioner had no funds and no food. Hannes bought enough food to fill his Ford Meteor car, took a week’s leave and drove the 1000 kilometers to Bulawayo and delivered food to the pensioner. A few months later he went up to Zimbabwe and supplied the pensioner with food. He was asked to supply a pensioner with food at the Huisvergesig Old Age home in Gwreu. This he did and when he noticed how the other pensioners in the home was staring at him and the box of food he realized that they also needed food. It took Hannes another 8 months to buy enough food to supply 36 pensioners with a food hamper at this home. The pensioners did not know that they would be receiving food and some of them were so overwhelmed that they cried. This is when Hannes realised that there was a crises facing the pensioners in Zimbabwe. Their pensioners were fast becoming worthless as inflation was out of control.
Hannes then started the Zimbabwe Pensioner Supporter Fund as he could no longer carry the cost on his own. December 2003 Hannes bought a 4 ton Toyota Dyna truck as he was supplying more that 100 pensioners with food. As donations were received the ZPSF expanded it relief efforts until it was supplying more than 400 pensioners with food, clothing and basic medicine every 3 months.
By 2007 Hannes had to resign from his normal place of employment in order to give his full attention to the plight of the pensioners in Zimbabwe. July 2007 food disappeared from the shelves in the shops and a decision was made to supply the pensioners with a hamper every month. April 2008 the ZPSF was registered as a Section 21A Organization and in July 2008 the ZPSF was donated a second hand 8 ton truck. This made it possible to supply more than 1000 pensioners with a food hamper every month. As the situation in Zimbabwe deteriorated a mobile clinic accompanied our trucks to Zimbabwe and medicine was supplied to the pensioners. January 2009 the ZPSF purchased a new 9 ton truck which has since been upgraded to carry a 14 ton payload.
It was also in March 2009 that the ZPSF store room moved from Hannes’s house to a warehouse in Malalane.
The total amount of homes / organizations we are currently aiding is about 26 in total, and we cover most of Zimbabwe, concentrating on the homes that are mostly out of the way and thus don’t get much support / aid. We also aid BHN in Bulawayo and helped to set up a system similar to SOAP Gweru, Zvishavane, Masvingo, Red Cliff, Kwe Kwe and Kadoma to cater for pensioners that are not in old age homes as well. We are also supporting the CFU in aiding destitute farming pensioners. We are helping to support between 1000-1100 pensioners in Zimbabwe. We currently take up food parcels every 8 weeks or so, to do this the costs run about 350k. There are quite a few groups that try to help the pensioners although according to our knowledge we are the largest. At this stage we supply food parcels as well as basic meds, walking aids, wheel chairs.
These food hampers serve 2 purposes.
1 They supply much needed food to the pensioner.
2 The pensioner then knows that someone cares about them
For those who would like to support our efforts with our Golden Oldies still in Zimbabwe please find in good order the details for both the SA and UK account as well as the 2 links for our general and USA PayPal accounts, I have had a few emails requesting I attach these details.
Our Adopt a Golden Oldie 2021 PayPal donate button (Non-USA) – https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=TKF5JCEFZZQTQ
SA Account
ZIMBABWE PENSIONER SUPPORTER FUND
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
MALELANE BRANCH
BRANCH CODE 270952
ACCOUNT NUMBER 62239042906
SWIFT CODE FIRNZAJJ
Please if you make a Donation to this account is you can send a mail to myself linda@zpsf.co.za so that I can send you an acknowledgement of Donation.
UK Account – Our NEW UK banking details:
ZIMBABWE PENSIONER SUPPORT FUND
Barclays Bank, West Swindon
Sort code:20-68-15
Account No: 23398579
Swift Code is:BUKGB22
IBAN is: GB49 BUKB 20681523398579
Please if you make a Donation to this account is you can send a mail to Beti-Ann at betiann1@sky.com so that she may send you an acknowledgement of Donation
USA ACCOUNT
ZIMBABWE PENSIONERS SUPPORT FUND – USA
A Registered 501(c)3 organization. TAX-deductible receipts available for USA donors.
Donations via Paypal, use the following link:
USA address to post cheques
3901 Hillwood Way
Bedford TX 76021
To request additional information, or receipts,
email Alice at zpsf.usa@gmail.com.
Australia Account – Rhodesian Association of Western Australia
Rhodesian Association of WA
P & N Bank
BSB 806 015
Account No. 0181 1882
Please include name and ZPSF in the reference. Acknowledgement will be given in our quarterly newsletter. If a receipt is required, please let Doug know at admin@rhodesianassociation.com
Our elderly pensioners are very proud and are not looking for sympathy; however, they greatly appreciate all assistance we are able to supply them with. They do not have any means of conveying their gratitude to all of you our supporters but convey their thanks to us on the ground (Via letters and words of thanks which are often published for you to see) and are often reduced to tears when given a box of very basic foodstuffs. As we have said before, our trips to Zimbabwe to help our Golden Oldies are always emotional ones.
Thank you so much for helping us support our “Golden Oldies” during these crazy times. Your support is invaluable and we at the ZPSF would never be able to sustain our regular supply of relief parcels if it were not for donations and support such as yours. All of this happens because of people like you, our Donors ensure our wheels keep turning, you are all truly amazing. THANK YOU and God Bless.
We hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us, ask your questions, check the references that we give you and then PLEASE support our old Rhodesian pensioners who have nowhere to go. Our web page is www.zpsf.co.za all updates are also loaded directly onto our site. We welcome anyone who wishes to come and see our warehouse and what we do.
Head office South Africa contact details:
Linda Schultz – linda@zpsf.co.za – (C) 079 6082676 (T) 013 7900934
Johan Schultz – johan@zpsf.co.za – 082 4979328
Hannes Botha – hannes@zpsf.co.za – 084 5893221
Section 21 Co Reg. 2007/034036/08; NPO Number 096733; Section 18A PBO No 930031642
DOING WHAT WE SAY WE DO.
The 3 most important pillars of our cause:
UNIQUENESS – being one of a kind and knowing that the ZPSF is driven by good will and very passionate members.
TRANSPARENCY – enforcing the rule that all members must be fully informed before taking part in this noble venture.
ACCOUNTABILITY – Having a traceable paper trail for every cent handled, and regular revues conducted.
Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results. ~Andrew Carnegie