[Teleflex Medical news release] Corporate Employee Delivers Help and Hope to Zimbabwe

For Corporate IT's Gwab Mpofu, a personal journey that he began in 2004 finally ended last month, as a shipping container filled with computers, clothing, a tractor and an pickup truck, finally made its way from Pennsylvania to Zimbabwe, relief for people who are suffering from the economic and social instability in that country.

Gwab, a native of Zimbabwe who now calls the US home, began collecting computers for his countrymen beginning in 2004. His plans expanded in November 2007, when he began to solicit donations of farming equipment and other materials to help family members and friends in Zimbabwe to be able to grow their own food. He enlisted support from his church, his friends and co-workers at the Corporate office in Limerick, eventually collecting items and the funds needed to ship them from the US to Africa. Gwab left the U.S. on July 24 and arrived in Zimbabwe on July 26. The shipping container was scheduled to arrive on the 26th but did not arrive until August 13 because of clerical errors and other issues. The container seal had been broken and there were items missing, but Gwab flet the losses were insignificant given the size of the container. "We had loaded a $9000 dollar tractor and accessories, $2500 truck, used computers, used clothing, bicycles, and fence posts etc.," he explained, "with an estimated total value of close to $30,000." Offloading the container in Zimbabwe were around 30 people who came in to help, and after three days of negotiations with customs, the last of the items was finally loaded to the truck around 12:30 AM August 16th. Gwab and his friends finished unloading everything to a storage area just 6 hours before his flight departure to return to the US. Some bicycles were distributed and the tractor and accessories and the truck were received by the farmer. The bails of clothing were delivered to a local church to be sorted and will be distributed by the pastors after sorting. The computers went to a storage area to be tested before delivering to the pastors for distribution.

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