On Friday 23 September 2022 I leave in the truck for the second-last delivery run for the year to
Zimbabwe. I do some last-minute shopping in Nelspruit and head for Musina where I spend the night
with Hester Joubert and family. I get into some interesting conversation with her brother, Willem Ferreira who told me how he spent a weekend with a bunch of school buddies at Birchenough Bridge. They grew up in Mutare and the Bridge was a favourite holiday destination as it was close and far from Mutare, with resorts and hotels on the banks of the Save River. He remembers that the river was deeper then, before years of sand build-up in the area of the bridge making the water very shallow today. Well, the lot of them came up with the idea of being the first group to walk over the bridge and engrave their names on the top of the arch. This mission was executed after a lot of coaxing and group pressure. When they eventually reached the top, they had to search for space to write their names in between the names already there. We had a good laugh at this and then I was off to bed as the border crossing awaited the next morning.
I left for the border at about 07:00 and stopped at the local mall to get fresh bread and milk for the stay in Bulawayo. At 08:30 on Saturday 24 September 2022 I was at the border starting to cross into Zimbabwe. On the SA side, the paperwork was quickly done, and I was in the queue for the bridge in no time. On the Zimbabwe side I was soon over the weighbridge and entering the newly built waiting area for commercial vehicles. I parked and headed for the terminal building to process the vehicle as it must be imported on a temporary permit to enter Zimbabwe. I get the new Zimborders paperwork, empty manifests, passport and toll gates sorted. Then I get back into the truck and try to find a way into the queue to exit the border post and enter Zimbabwe. After some time, I get into a moving line and wait my turn. Some of the drivers get into an argument about guys jumping the queue. At last, the Security Personnel controlling the traffic flow shows me to proceed and I head for the boom gates. There are about 5 boom gates where the Zimborders receipt is scanned, and the gate opens for you to pass on. This system seems like a world class setup, although a bit of an overkill. After about 4 hours at the border, I pass a second weigh bridge and then I’m on my way to Bulawayo. After the first 100 km, which has a lot of potholes and the road is really bad, the rest was fine up to about 20 km before Bulawayo. I arrive in Bulawayo late afternoon and have dinner with Willem and Caroline, as always being spoilt and treated like royalty. Thanks for having me. After dinner I am off to my cottage and get to bed hoping for a good night’s sleep after a gruelling day.
Sunday, 25 September 2022 I planned to have a slow day and take it easy, but it was not to be, I unpacked the truck and was off to the warehouse to get things ready for Hannes Jovner who was assisting with half the deliveries for this round trip. Hannes wanted to load up and depart on his delivery run early Monday morning. I got to the warehouse and found Angela and her team on the ball and ready as requested. Hannes was loaded and I was off to Willems again for a feast and some F1 action. We called it early and I was in bed early for a full Monday.
Monday, 26 September 2022 we prepare and load the ZPSF truck for my share of the round trip and I meet with Shannon and Rachel Wheeler who volunteered to assist in the deliveries around Bulawayo. What legends, this frees me up to concentrate on the round trip. From here it was going to be a quick run for me.
I left on Tuesday, 27 September 2022 and dropped 180 boxes of food aid off in Harare for our various causes there where I spent the night with John and Leonie. A lovely quiet evening around a fire, a cold beer and good conversation. Thanks again John and Leonie for having me. I do note that there are still requests for more assistance with new names being put forward every trip. It is notable that the current inflation rate is taking its toll on everyone. As I drive around, it is obvious from the number of people walking and hiking during “working hours” that many are forced to hustle to survive. The power outages cause traffic congestion and I was warned not to drive during peak hours as this was unpleasant when the intersections get jammed up. I saw this in Bulawayo when patience run out and intersections become gridlocked. With extended power outages, water supplies fail when the water pumps stop, and reservoirs run dry. This is a country-wide problem that the Zimbo’s have to deal with, most have a plan “b” as they always have been the resilient lot they are.
Wednesday morning, 28 September 2022, I fill with fuel, thanks to Vic’s continued support. Even during difficult times Vic Bongiovanni of Concrete Structures is always a star. Then I am off to Marondera where I meet with Mike to drop the boxes for the three recipients there, we have quick chat as he was on his way to do a small maintenance job. Mike does some repairs and handy man jobs to keep going in these difficult times, as he says, sometimes the going is good and sometimes not, currently he was “flush”, things were on the up. He was in good spirits and gave a little thank you video for the donors before he had to get back to his client. I then left to go to Rusape where I was planning to spend the night. On arrival I noted that everything was quiet and as I stopped, there was no people to welcome the truck, which was very strange, as there was always a crowd ready to receive the truck with a tea party. On the far side of the garden, I noted some staff near a fire pit. As I approached, a vehicle stopped and it was Stu Taylor, the Charman. His first words were “Keep your distance, I am positive!” Well, this got my attention. Stu was masked up and told me he was feeling ill and went to have a COVID test done and was on his way to isolate. He had arranged a braai and a get together for me and the residents. George, the groundsman and Roy then joined me at the fire, all the residents were informed of Stu’s news, and all were advised to isolate if they had contact with Stu or feeling ill, the braai was to continue with social distancing in place for the rest of us. The braai was washed down with a couple of cold ones with a little banter and lots of jokes and stories. The highlight was Uncle Cyril explaining that
he was working on a farm in South Africa (Free state) where there was a young man that used English
for self-defence only. Well Uncle Cyril promptly became “Oom Sarel” for his time he was on South
Africa. I being Afrikaans born, latched onto this and called him Oom Sarel which just fired him up to
share more stories…what a great afternoon and thanks Resthaven, you guys are awesome. Although
it turned out that there were 3 positive cases in the home, and thankfully all recovered. After the braai I
was invited to a “Private Club”, we were going to the “Shed”. I was not sure what to expect, a local water hole or farm… dunno? Well, Roy asked me to be ready at 18:00 for pickup and then we picked up George and were off to the “Shed”. On arrival I saw a literal shed in which seemed to be in the middle of an open property. A few moments later guys arrived and opened the door to a sparse furnished room with a proper full sized snooker table in the centre with a bar counter in one corner. These guys have a passion for snooker and acquired a snooker table and built their own hide out, a proper man-cave, astounding. We had a whale of a time bantering and supporting while playing a few games of snooker, what absolute legends. Thanks, guys, for the experience and the spoil, I will definitely like to join you guys again. After a fantastic evening we were back off to Resthaven for a good night’s sleep.
Thursday morning, 29 September 2022, I was off early to Mutare and was there by 08:00 to offload. Coming down Christmas Pass early on a clear morning, you are treated to a spectacular view of Mutare and surrounds as you crest the mountain on top of the pass. I missed Des and Sally as they were in Harare for their son’s wedding. Congratulations on adding to the family. And thank you for the arrangements with the crew to off load and reload the empty boxes, all was done in no time, and I was back on the road for Masvingo and Pioneer Trust where I was going to spend the night. The travel was amazing as the scenery unfolded. The highlight being crossing the Birchenough bridge. At Pioneer I was received by the staff and Johnny telling me how happy he was to see me and grateful for the goodie parcel naming the items he like the most. It seemed everything in the box was his favourite! We off-loaded and after checking the delivery note, the boxes were distributed. By the time I parked the truck all the boxes were gone, delivered to their recipients. I was the shown to my room by the matron on duty and she informed me that there was no electricity. They have power cuts every second day, and the power would return during the night some time, so should not be surprised if the lights suddenly come on during the night. So, the oldies here only have electricity every second day. Cindy Valentine, the new Administrator popped in to meet and greet me and arranged for me to have supper. Just before 17:00 I was surprised with a big tray of cooked food and a serving of pudding. After dinner I decided to lie down before having a bath. I was soon fast asleep, just to jolt awake around 01:00 in the morning with bright lights in my face, the electricity was back… what a shocker! I was not going to make too much noise at that time of night, so decided to switch off the lights and go back to bed.
Friday morning, 30 September 2022 at 05:00 I was up to get ready for the trip to Shurugwi and then Bullies. By 06:00 I was back on the road. I took a turn off towards Shurugwi with the name Potholes. The road was smooth as a baby’s behind… for the first 5 kilometres, then the road started to live up to its name… Mighty Crisis. This is the worst road I have seen so far, and I have seen some. The speed limit is 120 km/h, but I could only manage 10 or 20 km/h, this was for the next 25 km. Terrible. I arrived at Muus lodge feeling “all shook up” and was greeted by all the familiar happy faces, Colin, Kathleen, Ann and Teresa. We quickly off-load and I am on the road again. The rest of the trip to Bulawayo went off without any incident and I got to Bulawayo early, where we offloaded all the empty boxes. The Bulawayo distribution was wrapped up and I was done, ready to head home. I spent the last night with Willem and the family.
Early Saturday morning, 31 September 2022 I hit the downhill home. The trip took longer than I anticipated and by the time I got to Louis Trichardt I was kaput and decided to spend the night there and got home late on Sunday afternoon.
A BIG Thank you to all our donors, sponsors and people that help to make this happen time after time. Special thanks to the guys that put us up and feed us on this journey, Willem and Caroline, John and Leonie, Resthaven (Stu), Pioneer Lodge (Cindy). Guys in the office back in SA, Linda and Michelle. The support team in Bullies (Angela and crew). There are many more to mention, but thanks for all you do that gives me the opportunity and privilege to do what we say we do.
Johan Schultz
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
Section 21 Co Reg. 2007/034036/08; NPO Number 096733; Section 18A PBO No 930031642
