Please find in good order an update on what we are up to currently and finally the good news that we are delivering the food aid.
Firstly, let me update you quickly on Hannes our Chief who started this life saving Fund in 2002. He was released on the 17th of February from hospital after being there for 26 days. Johan picked him up and travelled slowly with him from Pretoria to deliver him safely back home in Marloth where he is slowly beginning to recover. He has an unbelievably long road ahead and is going to need all our thoughts and prayers. The growth removed was over 7kg and confirmed to be a very rare form of cancer, never one to do things the easy way, is he? Hannes will be seeing his oncologist in Nelspruit next week to decide the way forward.
Our first trip for 2021 is currently underway, finally, & thank goodness we are going to be able to do what we do best. Help our Golden Oldies! After some last-minute action and plans finally falling into place Johan Schultz left Malelane just after 3am on Tuesday morning last week. By 9.30am he was going past Louis Trichardt about 100kms from Musina. By 12 he was at the border on the SA side after doing some last-minute shopping and prep for whatever was awaiting him at the border. First things first, due to not sleeping over in Musina he had to stop in by our SA Clearing agent Sediba Clearing who have been doing our paperwork for years at no charge to collect the Empty Manifest with the Zims notification. While there he had the privilege of meeting with some of the management of Sediba and was able to give them our thanks and update them on what we are up to. Now to get to Sediba he had to go past the long que of trucks waiting for inspection. So, armed with his paperwork and leaving the truck doors latched open so everyone could see the truck was empty he headed for the Gate, where with a lot of acting and luck he was through the SA side in less than an hour. Once on the bridge Johan contacted our Zimbabwe clearing agent Robert from Krassel Marketing to let him know he was close by and would be requiring his assistance shortly. By 4pm Johan was through the border and departed from Roberts office. Now to face nightmare of what is supposed be the main road between Beitbridge and Bulawayo. We are all incredibly grateful for the rain we are having, but oh my soul it has not done any favors to the state of the roads. It took Johan from 4pm till just after 11pm to get to Bulawayo and bunker down for the night.
The team in Bulawayo have been packing the boxes in preparation for this trip in advance. This is a double box delivery again with all the uncertainty that we are currently experiencing. This means the O2 concentrators, PPE’s & the Beacon Marshmallow Eggs are now all ready for delivery. For most of our Golden Oldies we are the only additional support they have, & these boxes are literally lifesaving.
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 about 1200-1250 pensioners in Zimbabwe. This is about 40% of the pensioners that need aid. 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.
Post Currently running on Facebook about the Golden Oldies.
Celia Coleman
Anyone with family and old folks still left in Zimbabwe, please note the situation is NOT good financially …. this is a plea written by Billy Mitchell of Billys meats
Billy Mitchell
14 hrs
To all my friends out there I want to post an appeal for our old folks in Zimbabwe. There are thousands of seemingly abandoned old folks here who are really in dire straits as they seem to have been abandoned by their families. If you contact them they probably won’t want to worry you and will tell you that everything is fine but believe me it really is not. We run a fairly successful business here in Harare and we find it increasingly difficult to manage so I can assure you that these wonderful old people that sacrificed everything for us really need help. If you know of anyone who has elderly family still living here please make sure you are aware of their plight and get them to make a plan! Please feel free to share this to any of the ex Rhodesian/ Zimbabwean sites on
Facebook.
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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.
Thank you from one of the homes we support.
To: The Zimbabwe Pensioners’ Support Group
On behalf of Eastern Highlands Trust, we are sending you a great big thank you for your most generous donation of groceries and gifts to our Home and Frail Care.
Your generosity, kindness, thoughtfulness, love and assistance to the Trust is always most appreciated. We are most grateful to you all for all the time and effort you put into getting the parcels together for us all especially in these extremely difficult times. Thank you.
We trust you had a lovely Christmas and we wish you all the best for 2021.
Kind regards.
Wendy Amm
Accounts Administrator
Eastern Highlands Trust
PO Box 530
MUTARE
Telephone: +263 20 65230/64577
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We are an officially registered Non-Profit Organization and Section 21A in South Africa and are registered with SARS as a Public Benefit Organization in terms of section 18A the Income Tax Act (Which means all South African donations are issued with a Tax Certificate and can be claimed back). PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU WOULD LIKE A TAX CERTIFICATE STATING ALL YOU DONATIONS. PLEASE NOTE THEY ARE ISSUED BASED ON OUR FINANCIAL PERIOD SO THE CURRENT ONES ARE FOR MARCH 2020-FEB 2021. They will be issued once our Financial Year End has been processed, so from about mid-April 2020. UK supporters can be issued with a Gift Aid Certificate via Betti-Ann McLean and the USA account is now a Registered 501(c)3 organization and as such Tax-deductible receipts available for USA donors via Alice Short.
Please Note for a Tax Certificate I require the following:
- Physical Address
- Contact Number
- If Business – Registered Name, Comp Number
- Private – Initials and correct Surname
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
