Zimbabwe is a beautiful country to visit, especially the remarkably spacious second city of Bulawayo and the Matopos National Park. Lying south of Bulawayo, the Matobo Hills (or Matopos) consist of a broken and ancient, rocky landscape with a unique natural and social heritage. It has one of the highest concentrations of prehistoric rock paintings in Southern Africa. In these beautiful settings you will meet people who are very poor which you may find distressing at first, but they are amazingly positive, happy and hospitable in spite of their circumstances. You will become their lifelong friends! 

Main project:

The main project will be helping to build additional classrooms and essential teachers’ accommodation at the Hope Schools 12 miles north-west of Bulawayo. Hope Primary School opened in 2011 with 40 students (grades 1-2). It grew by 1 grade each year, reaching a full primary level by 2016 with 300 students. The school continued to enrol and double the number of classes in some grades. It currently has 450 students. All students are from the surrounding rural and high-density (township) communities and all are from low-income families. Many are from highly vulnerable homes.

The school is rapidly expanding, including a High School, and needs more classrooms and accommodation for teachers as a long-term project. Teachers’ salaries are very low, so providing them with accommodation is a huge incentive for them to join a school and stay there.

Most mornings you will be helping with the construction of the new facilities or painting another part of the building. For these 3-4 hours of your day, you will help the builders. Moving building materials, mixing cement, laying bricks, painting and more. The focus is on teamwork and you don’t need to be a trained builder to participate. Your effort on site will be a blessing for the local children, who for years have been without a local school and access to education.

Mostly in the afternoons we visit our other Partners. One of our major partner is called Our Neighbours Ministry. It’s an interdenominational Christian organisation reaching out to the poorest of the poor in Bulawayo. They seek to show God’s love in a variety of ways including provision of care to orphaned babies, provision of food to the hungry and education for the disadvantaged. We will help care for the babies at the orphanage and help the staff with some of their chores. We may assist with the Soup Kitchen Ministry to the urban poor and hungry, or help out at their school.

Amongst many other ministry opportunities we may help out at the local school for disabled children, encourage the Ebenezer Agricultural Training College in the nearby Matopos hills, purchase and supply food to a township old people’s home and then mingle with and pray for the residents.

Another project supports vulnerable mothers of newborn, often premature, babies. We may visit them in their homes or at the local state hospital before they return home.

These visits all bring hope as well as help into challenging lives. Each day is very varied and active.

Although this trip is about helping others you will also have some time off. We plan to visit at least one of two nearby game parks. Both offer a range of big game.

Bulawayo itself has a range of eateries, cafes and museums to suit most tastes. A highlight for many is the Railway Museum which consistently attracts good reviews from non-train enthusiasts.

There are no direct flights from the UK to Bulawayo or Zimbabwe. So we fly from one of the major London airports with a change in an African hub. The journey usually lasts arounds 17 hours, including the layover.

Upon arrival at Bulawayo Airport it’s a comfortable 30 minute drive on good roads to our accommodation.

We hire a bus and driver for the duration of our trip allowing you the opportunity to spend time with local people and get to know more about their lives. They become part of the team.

It can be quite cold overnight in Zimbabwe from June through to September, as it’s the middle of their winter in the Southern hemisphere. Temperatures can dip down below 10 degrees overnight and the homes have no insulation or heating: so bring some warm clothes for evenings and mornings. However we are not far from the equator so once the sun gets up and is high in the sky it can quickly warm up into the low 20’s, like an English summer : so the rule of thumb is to bring “layers”. Rain is possible but unlikely. The sun shines all year round so make sure that you pack a hat and sunblock.

Lightweight cottons work best in the heat, while synthetic fabrics like polyester tend to be very hot. Men should wear long trousers when we are visiting any of our partners, though long shorts would be acceptable on the building site. Trousers or shorts below knee are fine for ladies on the building site, though we strongly suggest you avoid jeans as they get hot and uncomfortable. Baggy culottes are best. Ladies should avoid strappy, low-cut or revealing tops at all times and shoulders must be covered. Some of the people in the local homes we visit and in some of the church services can be quite traditional and many ladies will wear long dresses: so women on the team may prefer to wear dresses or skirts on some occasions so as not to cause offence. 

In Bulawayo, we will stay in a small, local accommodation, where we will have most of our meals. We usually share 2 to a room. There will be no alcohol bought or consumed whilst we are in our Bulawayo accommodation.

Traditional food is quite bland in Zimbabwe. We will try their traditional food on a few occasions, but generally we will have a simple western diet. Every day you will have a hearty breakfast. Lunch is usually sandwiches and soup and dinner will be simple home cooked food. We will always have fresh fruit from the local market and a variety of local vegetables. Vegetarians will be fine, but it is not so easy to fully cater for gluten free diets in Zimbabwe: so if you are highly allergic to gluten please bring some snacks to keep you going.

As Zimbabwe’s second largest city Bulawayo has a good range of restaurants which we will sample on a couple of occasions. 

If you have any special dietary requirements or food allergies/intolerances, please let us know in advance. We will do all we can to accommodate these.

The currency used in Zimbabwe is the $US and the local ZIG currency. However, the ZIG is not available outside Zimbabwe and US Dollars are accepted almost everywhere. You will not need to spend money on food and transport (except for the occasional drink or snack) as all food and drink is included in the trip contribution. However you may want to bring money for souvenirs. And it is well worth having some cash to donate to the many needs that you will find and people that you will want to help. That could be anything from buying a new pair of shoes for a homeless man to supplying an orphan’s first ever bed.

The languages spoken in Zimbabwe are English (official language), Shona and Ndebele. In Bulawayo all three are spoken, in the rural areas, the people will speak Ndebele although there will normally be somebody who will interpret for you. However, nearly everyone you meet will be fluent in English. 

You may well have a generous baggage allowance and this gives you the opportunity to bring aid or useful gifts with you. We will tell you what would be gratefully received when you attend your oreintation meetings.

In Zimbabwe power cuts are quite common and lengthy, so please bring a torch. If you are planning to stay in touch with people at home via phone in Zimbabwe please check with your UK network provider, before you leave, to make sure your phone is “unlocked” and set to “roam” and do check the rate they will charge you for Zim, which can be very expensive. Wi-Fi is available at our accommodation where you can send e-mails and use WhatsApp and it will also have solar power back-up to allow devices to be recharged. Water supply is a particular challenge in Bulawayo so, whilst we will always ensure a good supply of safe drinking water, please do not come expecting long hot baths or to be able to wash clothes frequently.

When you join a Mission Direct team you will meet people from a range of backgrounds. It is important that you come ready to be a team player. We work hard together and generally have a lot of fun doing so. Some of these ‘strangers’ may well become lifelong friends afterwards. Trips where people try to opt out and ‘do their own thing’ tend to be far less successful and enjoyable for everybody on the team; please bear this in mind.

Mission Direct is a Christian organization and the Partner organizations that we work with are often, though not always, led by Christians. We are all on a life journey and are delighted to welcome people of any or no faith to join us. Typically we have short morning and evening reflections and on the trip you will visit a local church. We would like you to attend these aspects of the trip as part of the ‘teamwork’ ethos though there is no pressure for you to join in with the services, sing or pray if you don’t want to. The trips provide an eye-opening cross-cultural experience and are great fun.

You don’t have to be particularly strong, able, young, old or skilled in building or DIY to join a Mission Direct trip. We will put you to suitable work pretty much whoever you are. Children under 18 are welcome as long as they are accompanied by at least one parent or adult “en loco parentis”. The youngest child to join us was 7 years old, the oldest person was 88. If you are deemed fit to join the team by your doctor, we will be glad to have you join us.

Sadly, there are accessibility issues for Mission Direct trips due to the nature of the country and, of course, the building sites. If you have a particular disability, please get in touch and we can discuss what is possible on this, or another Mission Direct trip.

7:00 Morning devotions at the Accommodation 

7.30 Breakfast at the Accommodation

8.00 Travel to the site

8.30 Working at The Hope Schools during the morning; mixing cement, moving bricks, laying breaks, painting, digging and lending a hand with anything else that needs doing.

12.00 Back to the Accommodation for lunch.

2pm Visit families in their homes, talk to them about their circumstances, pray for them and deliver a much needed food parcel to them.

6pm Dinner.

7pm Reflections giving everyone an opportunity to process and discuss their experiences of the day.

Note: On some days the school work may be in the afternoon to allow other ministry visits to take place in the morning

Parts of the trip may be substantially different to your last visit. Prepare to do different things and meet new people, though you will probably also see some familiar faces too. We ask that you  allow those on their first trip to enjoy and experience each day as it unfolds, so avoid those ‘spoilers’ please!

Mission Direct is registered under the ATOL scheme licence number 10768
All the flight-inclusive mission trips on this website are financially protected by the ATOL scheme. When you pay you will be supplied with an ATOL Certificate. Please ask for it and check to ensure that everything you booked (flights, hotels, and other services) is listed on it. Please see our booking conditions for further information or for more information about financial protection and the ATOL Certificate go to: www.caa.co.uk

Your Financial Protection.

When you buy an ATOL protected flight inclusive mission trip package from us you will receive an ATOL Certificate. This lists what is financially protected, where you can get information on what this means for you and who to contact if things go wrong.We, or the suppliers identified on your ATOL Certificate, will provide you with the services listed on the ATOL Certificate (or a suitable alternative). In some cases, where neither we nor the supplier are able to do so for reasons of insolvency, an alternative ATOL holder may provide you with the services you have bought or a suitable alternative (at no extra cost to you). You agree to accept that in those circumstances the alternative ATOL holder will perform those obligations and you agree to pay any money outstanding to be paid by you under your contract to that alternative ATOL holder. However, you also agree that in some cases it will not be possible to appoint an alternative ATOL holder, in which case you will be entitled to make a claim under the ATOL scheme (or your credit card issuer where applicable).If we, or the suppliers identified on your ATOL certificate, are unable to provide the services listed (or a suitable alternative, through an alternative ATOL holder or otherwise) for reasons of insolvency, the Trustees of the Air Travel Trust may make a payment to (or confer a benefit on) you under the ATOL scheme. You agree that in return for such a payment or benefit you assign absolutely to those Trustees any claims which you have or may have arising out of or relating to the non-provision of the services, including any claim against us, the travel agent (or your credit card issuer where applicable). You also agree that any such claims may be re-assigned to another body, if that other body has paid sums you have claimed under the ATOL scheme