It was yet another great trip to Zimbabwe. This would be my first trip with a few complications that we would face. Thanks to the kind people in Zimbabwe, we would not be able to have finished the trip if we did not have the experienced eye of BJ Lawrie. I would like to say a great thanks to our donors and everyone helping us to make these trips possible so that we can help as many people as we can. Let’s get started with one of the best trips I’ve ever been on.
Saturday 15 June 20205
Frans Schultz and Marianca Pienaar left Malelane at around 6AM in a Fortuner and Trailer to head to Johannesburg to pick up his grandmother Edith Botha and his aunt, Christine Botha. They would be joining us in Zim for a special event, the celebration of his cousin Candice’s 18th birthday. It would be the first time in 30 years the whole clan would be gathering in Zimbabwe. Luckily the road was very quiet, and they had an uneventful trip. They got to Johannesburg around 11AM, loaded the trailer with all the luggage and left for Musina. They arrived at Louis Trichardt a while earlier than the truck and stopped at a garage to grab some coffee and waited for the truck and the bakkie to catch up. On the truck was Johan and he was followed by Ron Heiden and Linda Botha-Schultz in the Bakkie. The route they took was via Hazyview, Bushbuckridge and Hoedspruit towards Musina. Their travels were without incident and the meeting place was set for Louis Trichardt on the N1 towards Musina and Beitbridge Border. Once we all met up, we left in a convoy for Musina where we would be spending the night. We had some KFC takeout for dinner and spent the night at the Baobab Cottages.
Sunday 16 June 2025
Next morning we left for the border nice and early. The border was very quiet, and the small vehicles went through without any problems. They waited on the Zimbabwe side for the truck to come through. The truck had some other problems, on the SA side Johan waited for an hour to have his passport stamped, as the border had staffing issued in the commercial side of things and after a long wait the queuing truck drivers were diverted to the passenger terminal to have their passports stamped. This que then passwd the over the mighty Zambezi River at the same time, causing a bottle neck on the Zimbabwe side. In the meantime, the small vehicles were waiting for Johan on the Zimbabwe side as we were traveling in convoy. Once the truck had passed all the checks and hoops in the Border post, we got together and left Beitbridge for Bulawayo at about 12:45. We still had a very important stop just outside Beitbridge, the very generous Patty Bristow had donated 50 bags of oranges for the oldies and we stopped off there to pick up, meeting her husband and two beautiful daughters. Patty thanks so much for this, the oldies love the fresh fruit. And being the winter, I am sure they are more needed. The roads were very bad and there has been no improvement since our last visit. At least it was a dry road, and we could use the dirt diversions, not that it was good at all. We only arrived in Bulawayo after 6PM, the worst part being driving in the dark from Esigodini, all drivers driving with their vehicles bright lights on. We arrived safely and offloaded the truck and the bakkie before heading to the warehouse to park the truck for the night. We headed back to Caroline and Willem’s place where we offloaded the trailer and had some dinner. It was the first time is years that we had the whole family together in Zimbabwe, so it was a noisy night full of laughter and jokes. After dinner we headed off to bed as we were all very tired after the long trip and the bumpy roads. There was still work to be done in the morning.
Monday 17 June 2025
We got up nice and early as the team was busy loading the truck at the warehouse. We had a cup of morning coffee before heading out to the warehouse to help the team load the truck and to pack everything so we could hit the road. With the truck loaded and everything ready Johan and Frans hit the road for Gweru and the beginning of the round trip. The rest of the crowd stayed behind to deliver the Bulawayo parcels and prepare for the function to come. The road was very quiet and still in good shape, so we made good time, although still slow going being loaded to the max. We stopped at Gweru where Bruce Chilcott was waiting for us at the gate. We then offloaded the truck where we chatted with the residents for a bit. Ricki Lawrie came by to collect the boxes for Huis Vergesig and the Gweru outsiders. We then retreated to our cottage where we would be spending the night. Frans had a little nap, and Johan had time to visit Katie Munger. BJ Lawrie came to say hi and he had spotted something wrong with the truck as the tag axle bracket was broken and needed to be welded. We would go to him in the morning to get some repairs done as it could cost us the trip or a few extra days of delay. Val Hundemark came by to say hi, we had not seen her since Masvingo where she was working at Pioneer Cottages. It was great to catch up, she and her hubby, Johan, had recently moved into Boggies and were new recipients on our list. When Frans woke, he made us some sausages and buns for dinner. We were off to an early night, it was cold, and we knew with the old truck showing off her age, this could be building up to be another “one of those very memorable” trips. Sleep in comfort while you can…
Tuesday 18 June 2025
We got up later than we would normally and went to meet BJ at his workshop to properly assess the damage and what needed to be done on the truck. BJ saw that the U-bolts were loose and that caused the axel to move and that in turn caused the welding to crack and the axel had moved, any further and the tag axel could move and cause a lot of damage and we could get stranded somewhere down the road, so the decision was mad for BJ and his crew to save what they can. The U-bolts were re set and the old welding removed and redone. We had some time to kill, so BJ took us around the yard and showed us the old Landies standing in his yard while they were busy with the repairs on the truck. We had lost around 3 hours on our trip, a better deal than a few days down the road. With big thanks and a grateful heart, we left Gweru, we had to make that time back if we wanted to reach Chinhoyi, where we were going to spend the night, before dark. Our first stop would be Redcliff. The road was very quiet on our way there. We stopped in Redcliff at Hurbert Lee Cottages where the residents were waiting for us. We had offloaded the truck and chatted a bit with the residents, Carol Fereira and others, we got the lot together for a group photo before heading out to Kwekwe. After the short trip to Kwekwe we started to offload the truck, and we had some conversations with Dee Adlam. Once we were done in Kwekwe we headed for Kadoma. Luckily the road to Kadoma was very quiet. We stopped at Kadoma where we were greeted by the residents waiting for us. We then started to offload the truck and chatted a bit with the residents. Chinky Marillier gave us Kadoma bowls club pins, a very special keepsake and another pin to add onto the ZPSF caps we wear on the trips. Del Parkin, Chinky Merillier, Danie Hartman, Lena Niewnhuizen, Buck Gibson and Elaine Sharp came out to say howzit, thank for the warm welcome. Once we were done chatting and having a laugh or two, we had to hit the road again so we could get to Chegutu. The road was very quiet and in good nick all the way to Chegutu and being a little lighter we could make up some of the lost time. Once we arrived there it was a very quick stop as it was getting late, and we had to get to Chinhoyi before it got dark, thanks to Kendal for assisting in the offloading. Unfortunately, we got into Chinhoyi after dark and it was difficult to navigate the roads to where we were going to sleep, the bright light from the ongoing traffic and the speedbumps made for a very bumpy ride into town. We would offload the truck the next morning. A great thanks to Johan Haasbroek for letting us sleep in his house and a great thanks to Heather and Denis Nel for the warm meal and the brewskis. It was just what we needed after an interesting day. We has a chat and a couple of cold ones before Dennis took us to Johan Haasbroek’s place to stay for the night.
Wednesday 19 June 2025
We woke up nice and early as we wanted to offload the truck, resident came, collected their boxes and we received so many thanks and little chats as we worked, reloading the empty boxes and preparing for the trip to Harare, aiming get to Harare before the morning traffic hit. Luckily, we were there on time and the traffic was not too bad. We reached John and Leonie Herbst house to drop the boxes. Luckily their handy helpers were there to help us offload the truck. John and Leonie distribute to Bindura, Kariba, CFU, Harare and Chivu, a mammoth task for which we are very grateful. John Herbs was there as he was preparing to leave for America with his annual fishing competition with some kids. They participate in the World High School Championships in Oklahoma. Once we were done, we had to head to Vit’s fuel depot at Concrete Structures for his generous donation. Once again we are very thankful for all the help that we receive to make these trips a reality and bringing smiles to the people that we help. Once we had received our donation, we then left Harare and stopped for some pies at Surrey, some of the best pies in Zimbabwe. We then headed to Marondera to drop the 2 boxes for our oldies there, Shiela Gibson and Phyllis Banks were there to meet us. As always Phylis gave us some sweet home-made crunchies for the road. Once we dropped the boxes we headed for Rusape where we would be spending the night. The road was nice and quiet all the way there. There were some heavy trucks on the way heading towards Mozambique. We got there and started to offload the truck with the help of Decklan Mcleod, Stu Taylor and Roy Hodgson, under the watchful eye of Tony Anderson-Morshead with the clipboard and name list, marking off what was dropped. Once we were done, we then had some tea and coffee with the residents in the hall next to the library. There we were entertained by the ladies’ chatter, Shiela Foulis, Robyn Coucom, Liz Prinsloo, Andries and Lena Sousa, and Gill Ziel were all there. We chatted for some time and then we headed to Roy’s house where we would be spending the night. We had a very nice braai with a lot of laughs and listened to some good music. Thanks to Roy Hodgson, Stu Tailer and Lizz Prinsloo for a good evening and making it a special night.
Thursday 20 June 2025
We got up early, Roy was already up, gave us a cup of coffee and sent us on our way, we had a very long trip ahead of us with the destination for today was Masvingo via Birchenough Bridge. We left for Mutare so we could get there to drop the boxes at Des Becker’s warehouse. Once we got there, the team was already waiting for us. They then started to offload the truck, and we had some coffee with Des and Sally Bekker we chatted a bit. Once we were done we then loaded all the empty boxes back on to the truck and we headed off for Masvingo. The road was very quiet, and Dad and I took a very traditional photo where we would stand in front of Birchenough bridge and take a picture. Once we had our pictures, we crossed the bridge to keep heading for Masvingo. We arrived in Masvingo where we offloaded the truck with the assistance of the staff and chatted a bit with sister Connie and her team as well as some of the oldies that came out to greet us. Jimmy Miller came out in his van to distribute the boxes to the resident on their own cottages, we also got to see Doonsie van Aarde and have a quick chat with her. Once we were done, we headed to our cottage where we would be spending the night. The kitchen staff brought us some food; we decided to have dinner in the room. A very hearty meal with pudding after. We then rested for the rest of the day as our last push was the next day, with three more stops before Bulawayo.
Friday 21 June 2025
We got up very early so we could leave for Zvishavane to drop off the two boxes for the oldies there. We got there nice and early and waited for Mike Timvios to come and pick up the boxes he delivers for us to Peter Le Codeur and Katie van der Merwe. We chatted a little bit and then we hit the road again. We were on a bit of a time limit because we needed to get to Bullawayo to get our fuel donation from Colbro before they close shop. We then hit the mountain pass heading towards Shirugwe, man was that a bad road. We then got to Shirugwe and started to offload the boxes. Thanks you to the residents of Shirugwe for the delicious avos that we got there. We had a short visit with Colin Bell, Martha Daily, Mr. and Mrs. Lubbe. When we were done, we had to head to Gweru to pick up the empty boxes. It was a very quiet drive there. We got to Gweru where Bruce Chilcot was waiting for us with the empties. We loaded the truck and left for Bullawayo. The road almost felt as if it was a downhill road because we were done with our deliveries and had an empty truck. We made it to Bullawayo in time for the fuel donation but, they were waiting on their fuel truck to top up the depots fuel supply. We then decided that we would try again the next day. We left Colbro to head for the warehouse where we then offloaded the truck and went to Caroline and Willem’s house to rest after the long trip. The next day would be fun as we would have to do the preparations for my Candice’s 18th birthday party.
Saturday 22 June 2025
The next morning, we all woke up in good time and started to move all the decorations and to the Hillside bowls club where the party would be. The preparation was fun and the party was amazing. We all had a very good evening. Sunday, we all had a nice cool off day where we packed up and made ready for the next day where we would be heading back home. The evening was a very quiet evening where we all rested and built up energy for the trip back home.
Monday 23 June 2025
We woke up early to hit the road back towards South and Beitbridge. Johan was dropped off at the warehouse to get the truck on the road early, but the truck wouldn’t start. The batteries had died on us and we needed to jump start the truck. We tried push starting the truck but it did not work. We then headed back to the house to pick up our battery jumper pack that was in the bakkie. We then started the truck with the battery pack and Johan could then hit the road. Frans got back to the house and finished packing the trailer and the bakie so that we could hit the road as well. We didn’t take too long to get going and luckily the road was very quiet all the way to the border. The vehicles caught up with the truck just after the dirt road at Mazunga. We had to stop off so that we could drop off one box on the way to the border for Paxi Watson. We then left there so that we could hit the border. The border went fast for the small vehicles; we crossed the and we headed out for Louis Trichardt. We got to the Lodge way before the truck as the truck was still stuck at the border. We then waited for the truck to arrive before ordering dinner and then getting to rest for the next day’s journey. The truck had along delay on the Zimbabwe side when their system shut down and the boom gates would not open, this caused a long delay and bottleneck of commercial vehicles trying to get South. Oncle the truck left the Zim side, the same rush was on the SA side. After clearing the truck and passport stamped, the authorities decided to put the truck onto the scanner, a first for us on the South African side of the border. After a six-hour adventure, the truck was released and on the way to Louis Trichardt. The truck met up with the rest of the party at the Gateway Inn. We ordered supper, had a quick beer and were off to bed. This was one long and frustrating day and some rest was very welcome.
Tuesday 24 June 2025
Frans, Marianca, Granny and Christine left before the truck, they had to drop off Edith and Christine in Johannesburg and then head back to Malelane. The road was very quiet and smooth traveling all the way to Johannesburg and to Malelane. The truck and Bakkie with Johan, Linda and Ron left at first light and headed to Malelane. The trip went well without any incident, and they arrived in Malelane back at HQ just after 15:00. The Fortuner with Frans and Marianca got to Malelane about 30 minutes after the truck and the bakie.
We just need to add a huge thanks to all of the supporters that we have. Without you this would not be possible. Thank you for believing in us and helping us to do all of this magic. It is such a great feeling being able to help people and you all help us to make it possible.
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
