On Monday 10 August 2026 Neels Koekemoer left Johannesburg for Malelane from where the August 2026 trip would be leaving to deliver the next load of goodie boxes to the Golden Oldies in Zimbabwe. He spent the night with Johan and Linda Schultz in a chilly Malelane.
The next morning, Tuesday 11 August 2026, the last katunda was loaded for the trip to Musina where we would spend the night before crossing Beit Bridge Border to deliver the goodie boxes to the golden oldies.
With Johan and Neels on the truck and Candice Nel and Frans Schultz trailing behind in the Bakkie the trek left Malelane at 08:00. The road was wet, but surprisingly quiet and good time was made. Johan called ahead to secure a room in Musina to find that the lodge was fully booked, se we spent the night in Louis Trichardt at the Gateway inn. We arrived just after 15:00, settled into our rooms and had dinner before heading to bed for an early night, as we had to leave for the border earlier, we were still about an hour and a half to travel before getting to Musina.
On Wednesday 12 August we left a rainy Louis Trichardt for Beit Bridge with Robert our Border Agent waiting to assist with the crossing. We crossed the South African side with hardly any traffic and a very quiet border post. In the Zimbabwean side thing looked a bit busier and the truck yard has many trucks loaded with abnormal goods and new vehicles. Robert had us in the line and documentation processed in no time, we were through the border and on the road by 10:30. We met up with Frans and Candice and would travel together up to the Mazunga bypass. With the wet weather we were unsure about the condition of the bypass as it was in poor condition last time, we were there and if it was wet, we were not sure if it would be passable. When we got there, we were surprised that some work was done on the road and it was faster going and easily passable. Frans and Candice went ahead to Bullies, and we would trail after in the truck and meet up later in Bulawayo. We had a quiet trip with lots of roadblocks on the was and no significant changes to the condition to the road. After a dry 6-hour journey and 320 km later we arrived in Bulawayo, tired and well shook up. Willem and Caroline Nel put us up and treated us to a Willem special pasta and a couple of cold beers.
On Thursday 13 August 2026 the team in Bulawayo, under the watchful eye of Angela Engelbrecht, loaded the truck and were done by 10:00 and we were on our way to Gweru. We arrived at Bogies Trust at about 12:40 and settle into the guest cottage arranged by Bruce Chillcott. The staff was on lunch, and we had a short break as it was very cold and the Guti was freezing with a strong breeze to make sure we got chilled to the bone. Rickie Lawrie arrived as we were offloading the Bogies boxes to collect the Gweru outsider and Huis Vergesig boxes. Not many of the oldie came out to greet us as the weather was just miserable. After offloading we were invited to Carmaine and Pete Esterhuizen’s for dinner. We were treated to a hearty soup and toast dinner, the weather surely justified that, Neels and I were dressed like Eskimos with tracksuits and double jackets to brave the short walk from the guest cottage to their place. After dinner we snuggled into all the blankets available in the cottage and had a comfortable evening.
On Friday, 14 August 2026 we woke to a chilly 10-degree Gweru, still drizzling softly, but thankfully no wind. We left at about 07:15 for Chinhoyi where we would spend the night, with all the stops and offloading in between. The first stop was at Redcliff and offloading at Hurbert Lee Home. Here, Carol Ferreira, Johnny Kriek and a small crowd of oldies got together to assist in offloading, checking lists and distributing. A brave and happy, smiley crowd on this chilly morning. We reloaded the empty boxes and were off on a short jump to Kwekwe. We arrived in Kwekwe at 08:40 where Dee Adlam was waiting with the staff of Lynbrook to offload and distribute the boxes for the residents. We missed Ken Connoly who had meetings, but his empty boxes were loaded and the full ones dropped. After a short visit and a cooldrink, we were on the way again, to the next stop in Kadoma. We arrived there at Westview at 11:20 and welcomed by Del Parkin and Elaine Sharp, who co-ordinated the offload and marking the name lists with Neels. Danie Hartman, Lisa Sharp and Chinky Merilliar also made an appearance to say hallo and express their thanks to us and the donors for the goodie boxes. From here we were off to see Cherryl Albasini in Chegutu at Greenway Trust. We arrived there at about 13:00 and offloaded the boxes. Here she showed off their new braai area that was built from scrap material laying around on the premises. Quite a cosy spot with chairs, fire pit and braai place. Our next and last stop for the day was in Chinhoyi at Sunningdale trust. Johan Haasbroek was waiting with the local gardeners to assist offloading. Residents and outsiders came and went as they collected their boxes, with a quick hallo and goodbye, in no-time the boxes were distributed, and we were off to Johan’s house for a braai and some rest. Thanks to the ladies that made the sadza and gravy that went with the braai meat. We had a quiet evening, a warm shower and a good rest. At least it was not as cold here as we have been experiencing.
On Saturday 15 August 2026 at 07:00 we were on the road again, heading towards Harare and John and Leonie Herbst place to offload the Harare and surrounding boxes. Johan assists in getting boxes out to the Commercial Farmers Union, Kariba, Chivu and Bindura. It was good to see them, as we usually miss them when we offload in the week and they are at work. After a short visit we were off to Concrete Structures where Vit Bongiovanni has arranged with his guys to assist in donating 200 litres of fuel to keep us on the road and moving. A BIG thanks to Vit for the donation. Our next stop was in Marondera where we met the recipients at the Garage to offload their boxes. Peter Banks, Lynn Edwards, Monica Schultz and all the others that came out to see us, thanks so much. Philis Banks…. Thanks for the munchies, it’s always treat to have some home-made snacks for the road. From here we headed to Rusape, and we spent the night at Resthaven in the guest cottage. Linda Whitney arranged the cottage and the residents had a spread of goodies with tea and coffee to snack on when we arrived. Tony Anderson-Morshead on the clipboard checking the name lists, Declan McLeod, Liz Prinsloo, Heather van Buuren, Roy Hodgson and others greeting and making us feel welcome. We settled into the cottage and went to Lindsy and Ian Lees-May’s to watch the Rugby. Thanks for the entertaining evening, laughs and stories. We were off to bed later and had a chilly evening, for some reason it was freezing cold in Rusape.
Sunday 16 August 2026 we were off to Mutare to offload all the goodie boxes at the office of Des Bekker who distributes the load here. Des and Sally Bekker deliver to Strickland Cottages, Murambie, Nyanga, EHT Park Cottages and SOAP Mutare. We arrived there at about 08:00 and Des and his team were already waiting with a hot cup of coffee. The team here takes care of all the offloading, and we get to sit back and watch this squad take care of it all. From here we were off to Masvingo where we spend the night. The road is in a fair condition and was not too busy. We got to Masvingo and Pioneer Cottages at about 14:00. Sister Connie Mats were waiting to ensure all went as planned. The boxes were offloaded and Jimmy Miller was here as always to deliver the boxes inside the complex to the self-catering cottages. we had a late lunch in the room. We had a struggle for hot water as all the units are on solar and there was no sun to speak of to heat the water, so we had a quick splash in cold water. After we had a restful evening and left the next morning just before 06:00.
Monday 17 August 2026, we left Masvingo in 04 degree Celsius. A very cold morning, about 20 km up the road towards Zvishavane the truck indicated that the temperature dropped to 02 degree Celsius. We had a good trip to Zvishavane and dropped the two boxes for Mike Timveos to deliver. From here we went back to Bulawayo and arrived just after 14:00. We had a good rest and the next day we were having a rest before heading back to Malelane.
Tuesday 18 August 2026: Neels Koekemoer day … yes, he was spending his 70th birthday with us in Bulawayo away from his family. What an absolute legend, giving up such a milestone for this worthy cause. Neels had the day and he chose all the activities for the day, in the morning Frans and I did a little running around, wrapping up all the last loose ends before we could head home. We picked Neels up and went to Hillside Bowling Club and played a bit of Bowles. In the afternoon Caroline and Willem prepared an awesome pork neck steak dinner and we just relaxed until bedtime.
Wednesday 19 August 2026 at 05:00 Willem dropped us off at the truck where we packed our last goodies and headed off back to SA. We stopped in West Nicolson to refuel, a BIG thank you to George Blaver from Shurugwi for this donation, ensuring we can get home. Most of the fuel stations on the road still closed due to our early departure. This is just one of the things that make Zimbabwe feel like a time laps into the past, Fuel stations are closed at night. We stopped off at Paxi Watson’s at Makado Ranch to drop off her goodie box. She is still in good spirits and full of it, calling us faders for not spending a day there. She is still alone in the house and taking care of herself, too proud or stubborn to move and looking vey strong and fit for an 80 – something year old. We got to the border early, avoided most traffic and with Robert’s assistance cleared the Zim side very quickly. On the SA side we managed to clear quick but got stuck in a queue for the weigh bridge where all vehicles were weighed. After about an hour (feeling like four hours) our empty truck was declared not to be overloaded, and we left for Louis Trichardt where we spent the night at the Gateway Inn.
Thursday 20 August 2026 Neels Koekemoer and Johan Schultz left Louis Trichardt for Malelane. Having a good journey and a pleasant trip we arrived in Malelane just before 14:00. We handed in our paperwork at the head office and headed home for a relaxing evening, the following morning Neels left for Johannesburg and home.
Thanks to Neels for the sacrifice and great company on this adventure. You are an absolute gentleman and a gem of a human, thank you Aunty Eve for lending him to us.
Thank you to our donors, distributors, volunteers and staff for making this project a success and assisting us to touch so many lives, it makes such a difference in their lives.
Kind regards
Johan Schultz & Neels Koekemoer
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
