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Country profiles
Zimbabwe
The world HQ "so big you can see it from the moon"
Tvind assets: Headquarters Building, Shamva; Frontline Institute; Technical colleges, schools; agricultural estates; companies; DAPP Zimbabwe 'projects'; clothes collection containers; offices, Harare, school for Tvind children.
What exactly is Tvind up to in Zimbabwe? Inventing a new economic system to save the world? Helping poor Africans? Farming? Or escaping the clutches of the police in Denmark?
Since 1998 Tvind has occupied an immense global headquarters at Shamva, just outside Harare - a palatial, custom built extravaganza. This is the world headquarters of Humana People-to-People. When it was planned, Mogens Amdi Petersen promised it would be 'so big you could see it from the moon'.
There are several Tvind 'projects' in the surrounding countryside - all in a relatively prosperous, , fertile and well-watered part of the country. In fact, these 'projects could equally well be regarded as commercial plantations, since Tvind profits both from the land ad the people who work it.
One visitor to the Shamva estate, an expert on third world agricultural economy, concluded that the 'aid project' there was of no benefit to ordinary Africans and only served to lock them into dependence on Tvind. A showpiece, not real aid. Read Henry's story.
Tvind collects used clothes on the streets of Harare, just as it does in the west, and sells them to poor Africans.
[Shamva] [Frontline Institute] [Ponesai Vanhu] [Plantations]
Tvind has been in Zimbabwe since at least 1978, apparently with the enthusiastic support of President Robert Mugabe and his wife, Sally. In its early days, Tvind was closely aligned with freedom movements in the Front Line states and so has developed a strong relationship with ZANU-PF. Its first 'projects' were for refugees and fighters returning from Mozambique around the time of independence.
Tvind, it seems, has a special status. While some white farmers have been expropriated over the years, Tvind has apparently been able to acquire several large estates which are farmed commercially, and used for agricultural 'projects'. It is the only 'development aid agency' in Africa which actually appears to own large chunks of the countryside where it is supposed to be delivering aid. Farmers on Tvind projects pay rent to Tvind.
It has several schools and colleges, most of which charge fees to Africans.
Readers write:
I
found your site most recently and was pleasantly surprised.
My first impression of the Tvind organisation was formed way back in
about '82-'84 in Zimbabwe, where I had grown up. Under the name of
Danish Aid from People to People, volunteers were sent to teach the
Africans such basics as making bricks, whilst living in appalling
conditions in the bush and on a minimum of basics. After a few months,
a meeting was held, and about 25 of the volunteers were chucked out of
the organisation for allegedly smoking marijuana. This meant that they
forfeited their return tickets, which they qualified for only after
serving a year in Zimbabwe. A lot of them were staying at the local
youth hostel, virtually penniless, whilst the wheels of the Zimbabwe
Immigration Department swung into Deportation mode. As I had spent 18
months in Sweden and could communicate with the volunteers, I
suggested they use my house as a base, and at any one time for about 3
or 4 months there would be anything up to 15 people staying there.
Then the Deportation orders started. I don't know what happened to
most of the volunteers, but I bought tickets back home for a Swedish
girl, Karina Davidsson, and a Dane, Marianne Nielsen, so that they
didn't end up in a Zimbabwean jail for even one night. I then
travelled overland with Kalle Douglas, now of SecuritasAB in
Stockholm, to Dar-eSalaam, and then to Greece.
Not a pleasant experience for a lot of them, and I was absolutely
taken aback by how a so-called "beneficial" organisation
could treat its own people. I suspect now that there were ulterior
motives in kicking them off and abandoning them.
I
am now living in Hastings, East Sussex, presently in-between careers.
Please feel free to use the piece as you want. It certainly was an
experience which I'm sure none will forget, and, once the Tvind bit
was out the way, most of the volunteers will have fond memories of
their time in Africa. Could you let me know if you use it, and how to
find it. It's OK to use my e-mail address, maybe some of them will get
in touch!
By the way, I wonder if there's a connection between Tvind and van
Hoogstroom (sp?), presently doing time for murder in the UK. He too
seems to have had the hots for Mugabe and Zanu-PF. Just a thought.
Kind Regards, Mike Addison.
Rhodesiafever@aol.com <Rhodesiafever@aol.com>
"I met a couple of 18-year-old girls who were trying to teach 40- and 50-year-old farmers how to farm," says an aid worker who ran into Teachers Group volunteers in Zimbabwe. "They had no background for this work, not to mention the language barrier." ....... . While conducting her research, [American author Zahara] Heckscher traveled to Zimbabwe, where she interviewed confused young Americans who seemed to have no idea what they were supposed to be doing. "When I arrived, I was in culture shock city," one woman told her. "There was no one here telling me what to do. The two people I am here with were completely unsupportive."
Source: Boston Magazine
From Leiv Gunnar Lie's MA Thesis
Hanne Reichelt, a Danish girl who was supposed to spend six months in Zimbabwe, went home after four, disappointed with amateurish and disorganized projects. When an attempt to teach 15 Zimbabweans to drill wells failed because of faulty equipment and bad planning, the UFF leaders told them to beg the white people in Zimbabwe for money. (19) She decided to quit and go home. [....]
[....] In 1981, Henriette Hansen, a then 13-year-old girl, was maimed while on a UFF project in Zimbabwe. (35) Henriette and another volunteer had to hitch-hike to Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, a distance of about 1,800 miles. While hitching with a truck, the driver started to grope the other girl. In the struggle that followed she panicked, jumped out of the vehicle and was killed in the fall. The driver lost control of the truck and crashed into a cliff. He died too, leaving the 13-year old Henriette as the only survivor - alive, but maimed. The school did not even pay for her mother to come see her in the hospital while she was in a coma. Six years later, Henriette was awarded more than half a million Danish Kroner (about £50,000) in damages by the Ringkobing City Court.
UFF appealed to a higher instance, but later made an out-of-court settlement with
her. (45)
DAPP Zimbabwe (1978)
Projects
Clothes collection and sales
School for Tvind children
Information wanted:
Where is the school?
How many children?
Whose?
neither parent looks after the
ZIMBABWE
Development Aid from People to People in Zimbabwe
Park Estate, Shamva, PO Box 4657, Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: +263 71 7192
Fax: +263 71 7730
dappzim@primenet.co.zw
The Federation for Associations connected to The
International HUMANA PEOPLE TO PEOPLE Movement
Murgwi Estate, Shamva, Zimbabwe.
Postal address:
PO Box 6545, Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: +263 71 78 11
Fax: +263 71 64 27
hqchairman@internet.co.zw
Sponsor:
Oak Foundation
http://www.oakfnd.org/
Development
Aid from People to People
Shamva,
Zimbabwe
To support HOPE Humana People to Peoples HIV/AIDS voluntary counselling and testing programme.
The size of institutional grant support varied from US$25,000 to US$10,000,000
The world HQ "so big you can see it from the moon"
Tvind assets: Headquarters Building, Shamva; Frontline Institute; Technical colleges, schools; agricultural estates; companies; DAPP Zimbabwe 'projects'; clothes collection containers; offices, Harare, school for Tvind children.
What exactly is Tvind up to in Zimbabwe? Inventing a new economic system to save the world? Helping poor Africans? Farming? Or escaping the clutches of the police in Denmark?
Since 1998 Tvind has occupied an immense global headquarters at Shamva, just outside Harare - a palatial, custom built extravaganza. This is the world headquarters of Humana People-to-People. When it was planned, Mogens Amdi Petersen promised it would be 'so big you could see it from the moon'.
There are several Tvind 'projects' in the surrounding countryside - all in a relatively prosperous, , fertile and well-watered part of the country. In fact, these 'projects could equally well be regarded as commercial plantations, since Tvind profits both from the land ad the people who work it.
One visitor to the Shamva estate, an expert on third world agricultural economy, concluded that the 'aid project' there was of no benefit to ordinary Africans and only served to lock them into dependence on Tvind. A showpiece, not real aid. Read Henry's story.
Tvind collects used clothes on the streets of Harare, just as it does in the west, and sells them to poor Africans.
[Shamva] [Frontline Institute] [Ponesai Vanhu] [Plantations]
Tvind has been in Zimbabwe since at least 1978, apparently with the enthusiastic support of President Robert Mugabe and his wife, Sally. In its early days, Tvind was closely aligned with freedom movements in the Front Line states and so has developed a strong relationship with ZANU-PF. Its first 'projects' were for refugees and fighters returning from Mozambique around the time of independence.
Tvind, it seems, has a special status. While some white farmers have been expropriated over the years, Tvind has apparently been able to acquire several large estates which are farmed commercially, and used for agricultural 'projects'. It is the only 'development aid agency' in Africa which actually appears to own large chunks of the countryside where it is supposed to be delivering aid. Farmers on Tvind projects pay rent to Tvind.
It has several schools and colleges, most of which charge fees to Africans.
Readers write:
I
found your site most recently and was pleasantly surprised.
My first impression of the Tvind organisation was formed way back in
about '82-'84 in Zimbabwe, where I had grown up. Under the name of
Danish Aid from People to People, volunteers were sent to teach the
Africans such basics as making bricks, whilst living in appalling
conditions in the bush and on a minimum of basics. After a few months,
a meeting was held, and about 25 of the volunteers were chucked out of
the organisation for allegedly smoking marijuana. This meant that they
forfeited their return tickets, which they qualified for only after
serving a year in Zimbabwe. A lot of them were staying at the local
youth hostel, virtually penniless, whilst the wheels of the Zimbabwe
Immigration Department swung into Deportation mode. As I had spent 18
months in Sweden and could communicate with the volunteers, I
suggested they use my house as a base, and at any one time for about 3
or 4 months there would be anything up to 15 people staying there.
Then the Deportation orders started. I don't know what happened to
most of the volunteers, but I bought tickets back home for a Swedish
girl, Karina Davidsson, and a Dane, Marianne Nielsen, so that they
didn't end up in a Zimbabwean jail for even one night. I then
travelled overland with Kalle Douglas, now of SecuritasAB in
Stockholm, to Dar-eSalaam, and then to Greece.
Not a pleasant experience for a lot of them, and I was absolutely
taken aback by how a so-called "beneficial" organisation
could treat its own people. I suspect now that there were ulterior
motives in kicking them off and abandoning them.
I
am now living in Hastings, East Sussex, presently in-between careers.
Please feel free to use the piece as you want. It certainly was an
experience which I'm sure none will forget, and, once the Tvind bit
was out the way, most of the volunteers will have fond memories of
their time in Africa. Could you let me know if you use it, and how to
find it. It's OK to use my e-mail address, maybe some of them will get
in touch!
By the way, I wonder if there's a connection between Tvind and van
Hoogstroom (sp?), presently doing time for murder in the UK. He too
seems to have had the hots for Mugabe and Zanu-PF. Just a thought.
Kind Regards, Mike Addison.
Rhodesiafever@aol.com <Rhodesiafever@aol.com>
"I met a couple of 18-year-old girls who were trying to teach 40- and 50-year-old farmers how to farm," says an aid worker who ran into Teachers Group volunteers in Zimbabwe. "They had no background for this work, not to mention the language barrier." ....... . While conducting her research, [American author Zahara] Heckscher traveled to Zimbabwe, where she interviewed confused young Americans who seemed to have no idea what they were supposed to be doing. "When I arrived, I was in culture shock city," one woman told her. "There was no one here telling me what to do. The two people I am here with were completely unsupportive."
Source: Boston Magazine
From Leiv Gunnar Lie's MA Thesis
Hanne Reichelt, a Danish girl who was supposed to spend six months in Zimbabwe, went home after four, disappointed with amateurish and disorganized projects. When an attempt to teach 15 Zimbabweans to drill wells failed because of faulty equipment and bad planning, the UFF leaders told them to beg the white people in Zimbabwe for money. (19) She decided to quit and go home. [....]
[....] In 1981, Henriette Hansen, a then 13-year-old girl, was maimed while on a UFF project in Zimbabwe. (35) Henriette and another volunteer had to hitch-hike to Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, a distance of about 1,800 miles. While hitching with a truck, the driver started to grope the other girl. In the struggle that followed she panicked, jumped out of the vehicle and was killed in the fall. The driver lost control of the truck and crashed into a cliff. He died too, leaving the 13-year old Henriette as the only survivor - alive, but maimed. The school did not even pay for her mother to come see her in the hospital while she was in a coma. Six years later, Henriette was awarded more than half a million Danish Kroner (about £50,000) in damages by the Ringkobing City Court.
UFF appealed to a higher instance, but later made an out-of-court settlement with
her. (45)
DAPP Zimbabwe(1978)
Clothes collection and sales
School for Tvind children
Information wanted:
Where is the school?
How many children?
Whose?
ZIMBABWE
Development Aid from People to People in Zimbabwe
Park Estate, Shamva, PO Box 4657, Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: +263 71 7192
Fax: +263 71 7730
dappzim@primenet.co.zw
The Federation for Associations connected to The
International HUMANA PEOPLE TO PEOPLE Movement
Murgwi Estate, Shamva, Zimbabwe.
Postal address:
PO Box 6545, Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: +263 71 78 11
Fax: +263 71 64 27
hqchairman@internet.co.zw
Sponsor:
Oak Foundation
http://www.oakfnd.org/
Development
Aid from People to People
Shamva,
Zimbabwe
To support HOPE Humana People to Peoples HIV/AIDS voluntary counselling and testing programme.
The size of institutional grant support varied from US$25,000 to US$10,000,000
Development
Aid from People to People
Shamva,
Zimbabwe
To support HOPE Humana People to Peoples HIV/AIDS voluntary counselling and testing programme.
The size of institutional grant support varied from US$25,000 to US$10,000,000
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