Dear Friend of ZANE
When we sent out our Christmas greetings last year, little did any of us know what horrors 2020 had in
store!
Here in Australia we have been very fortunate through the course of the pandemic to have had such
good leadership at both national and state level that, despite the bump in Victoria, the country can look
forward to celebrating the festive season in a much more normal way than virtually anywhere else in the
world. In saying this we acknowledge how tough it has been for many who have lost loved ones to the
disease or, indeed, their jobs or businesses – we are mindful that great sacrifices have been made this
year by all.
When we turn our thoughts to Zimbabwe, we see an unfolding tale of ever more hardship and woe
– even without covid, the situation in the country was desperate, with inflation once again soaring
and more than eight million people needing food aid. Inevitably, the number of people applying for
assistance from ZANE has been never been higher.
For ZANE Australia, 2020 started with a huge surge of people contacting us with offers of support
and ideas for sponsored events, and we felt that we were set to gather large donations from intended
events such as the Rottnest Swimming Challenge, city marathons, hikes across the US Continental
Divide and the Old Legs Cycle Tour from Zimbabwe to Namibia.
Max Herscovitz and Brendon Lear duly completed the Rottnest Swim and raised a very tidy sum – well
done and thank you to them. Sadly, however, all city marathons were cancelled, as was the Continental
Divide hike and even the Old Legs Tour could not take place with its full complement of ex-Zimbos from
around the world. The ride had to be rescheduled within Zimbabwe, with only Zim residents able to
take part. In an amazing act of generosity, one of the would-be participants, Alan Crundall, got together
with his extended family in Queensland and made a very substantial donation from the Crundall and
Kenny families – a one-off amount to be used as emergency relief by the ZANE Zimbabwe teams during
the lockdown in Zimbabwe – it was quite literally a life saver for many elderly folk who had no way of
keeping food on their tables or buying medicine.
Apart from these one-off donations, the generosity and steadfastness of the regular ZANE Australia
donors have been humbling to behold. While we expected donations to shrink throughout the
pandemic and lockdowns, we have in fact witnessed them growing month on month and several
times during the year we have been able to send more than our regular monthly transfer of money
into Zimbabwe. Apart from the very obvious gratitude of the elderly who have been the recipients, the
ZANE teams in Zimbabwe have been uplifted and inspired in their work knowing that there is so much
goodwill out there and that people really do care and translate that care into action. There are no words
to express strongly enough our gratitude to you, our donors.
With the promise of vaccines in the new year and perhaps a return to something resembling our once
considered normal lives, we look forward to 2021 with hope.
I extend every good wish for a joyful festive season, and many thanks for the kindness and generosity
of you all.
Nicky Passaportis
* Names and images may have been changed for privacy reasons
If you are already a ZANE donor, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. If you are not a donor but would like to be, please follow the link below and know that every donation, however big or small, goes directly to where it is most needed. If you would like to help but can’t donate, please join the ZANE family and ‘like’ or ‘share’ our posts or write us a Google review – every positive step helps spread the word about the life changing work ZANE does.
Thank you – Nicky Passaportis ZANE Australia
Please donate to support pensioners struggling to survive in Zimbabwe
Any assistance is greatly appreciated and goes a long way to giving our pensioners a better quality of life and lift the pressure of money worries which is very debilitating emotionally.
(Donations made to ZANE in Australia, are tax-deductible)