ABOUT MOP

Hello, everyone – it is hard to believe a whole year has passed since my last newsletter, but the dates do

not lie!

The year has again seen meetings taking place on Zoom rather than in person, including the annual TZABA

Day meeting, though this meant that several people were able to attend who would not normally make the

journey to London for the occasion. A recent committee meeting, however, was ‘live’, which was a

pleasant change. The major topic under consideration at all meetings has been the Solar Pumping Project,

which moves on steadily, with the support of a good team on the ground in Zimbabwe.

Secondly, we have amended TZABA’s Constitution, updating from the earlier version which no longer

represented what we do, and also providing scope for the continuation of our work into the future

(preferable), or if we do not have sufficient trustees (committee members), to be able to hand over our

assets to some other organisation with similar objectives. Of course we want to continue, and are therefore

keen to increase the number of committee members/trustees, so if you, or anyone you know, might be

interested in joining us, please do let us know!

Fund-raising for MOP of course continues, and just now I am disposing of re-made Christmas cards to as

many people as possible, and held a coffee morning recently in Duns Tew Village Hall, which raised the

amazing sum of £251.47 for the cause, and of course included a number of generous donations as well as

payments for cards, coffee & cake. There has been virtually no direct contact with Bonda, apart from the

regular formal requests for payment of school fees, but from these we know that in April there were 14

children living in the Home, almost evenly split between Primary and Secondary education.

We continue to receive regular bi-monthly newsletters from the Avondale centre in Mabvuku, but these

now come from a new correspondent, as the wonderful Ruth Robinson died, suddenly, on Easter Day. She

is sorely missed, but the work continues, and we are very happy to support the centre when funds permit.

I attempted to contact Dumisani on Facebook at the start of the year, but am sorry to report that there has

been no response – and it appears that he has not accessed his Facebook page at all. One must just hope

that this means his life is moving on, and that he will sometimes remember the support he received over all

the years since Jill Hetherington first took an interest in him.

We remain enormously grateful for your continuing interest in, and support of, MOP and its work, and hope

that this reminder may prompt you to either send a cheque (made payable to ‘TZABA (MOP)’) to Mr A

Elsworth, 10 Lurkins Rise, Goudhurst, Kent TN17 1ED, or (if you bank electronically) send direct to

TZABA’s account at 40-52-40, a/c 00003254, using your name and ‘MOP’ as the identifier. You can, of

course, also donate via the JustGiving button on the TZABA website.

And finally – if you have acquired (or changed) an e-mail address, please advise me so I can send this

electronically in future! Indeed, any alteration of address or phone number would also be appreciated.

God bless you all.

We wish you a Happy Christmas, and all the best for 2024.

​

Jo Barton (UK Fundraiser)

jbartonbevan@aol.com 

​

To view latest report on the Solar Pumping Project, please use this Dropbox Link:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/aptedoeo8gq62pe6zo5rd/ARDeZ-TZABA-SOLAR-WATER-PUMPING-

IMPACT.pdf?rlkey=ev0x8v9z2j2hmklgbxcs5rori&dl=0