We met Walter at the Music Camp in Harare/Zimbabwe in summer 2017. Walter is young, lives in Harare, plays tuba and is bandmaster in the Budiriro 5 Corps of the Salvation Army in Harare.

Walter first came into contact with instrument repairs in the Zimbabwe Army and the desire to learn the craft of an instrument repairer grew in him. When he heard that a Swiss repairer would be present at the Music Camp and that workshops would be offered, he did everything he could to be present at the camp. It soon turned out that he was very talented and interested, and soon he was actively helping to assess and repair the many instruments of the camp participants. After the camp we were allowed to take care of the tools we had brought from Switzerland. A friendship developed, and packages with tools and repair material found their way to Harare by post after a first test shipment, which remained lost until today. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

In the summer of 2018 I was again allowed to travel to Zimbabwe with the SwiZimAid team, and I had other material with me that he could use very well.

When we arrived in Harare, we didn't quite know what it meant when Major Pamacheche said there would be some musicians bringing instruments to patch up at headquarters. Walter was supposed to support me. When we arrived at headquarters at 9am, there were already several pickups with instruments. How glad I was for Walter's help! We set up our improvised workshop in a classroom and repaired, reported and documented around 150 instruments by Friday. Walter did a great job and was grateful for everything I could show him. He quickly realized that cheap instruments are ultimately -zig times more expensive than cheap quality goods and recognized the need to teach schools and corps exactly that and how to handle and maintain them. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

Since November 2017 Walter has his own "repair studio", the Music Surgery in Harare. His services are appreciated not only in the Salvation Army. Charles from Malawi travelled to him to learn the basics of the work from him, further sessions are planned. So that Walter can expand his skills, it now makes sense to deepen his craft here in Switzerland.

Thanks to the active support of the mission department of the Salvation Army in Bern, the idea quickly turned into a concrete application for a visa. The joy with him and with us here was enormous when he sent the photo of the visa by WhatsApp on Monday, December 10th! Now he will be here for 2 months from January and will be able to gather know-how at the company Blaswerk Haag in Weinfelden and Wetzikon and other stations.

As a specialist in Southern Africa, Walter will be able to train more repairers, a milestone for these countries!