Volunteer David Grieve talks ABCA

David Grieve is a business adviser with a very special affinity for Zimbabwe. Born and bred in Australia, David’s first real connection with Zimbabwe was through a friend’s Zimbabwean wife and parents-in-law.

It was when researching a joke to be played on the friend’s Zimbabwean parents-in-law  that David met the amazing Ruth Feigenbaum in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Ruth had founded and managed the AIDS charity, Sofgoti which provides counselling, craft and support services for those affected by AIDS.

David started sending  boxes of children’s clothing to Sofgoti which he continued to do for over 5 years. It was fortuitous that David and ABCA found each other through a friendly introduction by one of our previous volunteers. David really enjoyed  the enthusiasm and comradeship of book packing with other ABCA volunteers and was inspired to change his Zimbabwean focus from clothing to books.  Being the ‘can do’ person he is, David immediately instigated and arranged for ABCA to start sending boxes of books to Zimbabwe. Initially he focused on arranging for books to be sent to Sofgoti’s small children’s library in a community centre. Here children, mostly AIDS orphans, could safely read books, do their homework and enjoy cultural activities.

Through David’s continued commitment to Zimbabwe ABCA has not only sent books to Sofgtoi but also  to various Zimbabwean schools in more remote areas where education facilities are very rudimentary.

David has also inspired his friend at Pearson Education Publishing, to donate pallets of  books to ABCA. David’s enthusiasm for ABCA is infectious and his friend now volunteers to pack ABCA books as well.

David strongly believes in the power of education to provide a stepping stone to a better life.  David points out that in Australia we are very privileged and do not realise how lucky we are to have access to so many books and educational materials. He describes the satisfaction he experienced when he visited the Sofgoti library stocked with ABCA books:

“To see children enjoying reading books was heart-warming. The children would jostle to proudly read a book to me. They were so enthusiastic, and they have so little! The pleasure on their faces said it all.”

Posted April 2023

Written by David Grieve