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Bibliopile: Culdrose personnel back bish’s book drive to help African youngsters
23 June 2025
Royal Navy chaplain Newton Ndlovu hopes to set up a school library to help impoverished children in his native Zimbabwe.
The bish, who serves at RNAS Culdrose near Helston, asked air station personnel and their families to donate unwanted books for youngsters – and was inundated with the response.
He now has upwards of 300 books suitable for of all ages which he is busy packing for shipment to the Active Senses Technical School in the town of Chinhoyi, about 75 miles outside the capital Harare.
They range from Peppa Pig to Harry Potter, through adult fiction, to books on history, theology and English language texts.
He said: “On my last visit home in Zim’, I visited two schools where I was invited to talk to the students. I decided afterwards to ask for donations to try to build a library, starting with one school, to bring back the culture of reading.”
Reverend Ndlovu worked as a secondary school teacher and lived in Chinhoyi for four years before he joined the Royal Navy in 2021.
He said the country struggled with a soaring cost of living which has seriously affected society, especially those communities outside Zimbabwe’s major cities.
“Because of the economic turmoil in the country, there’s quite a strain on schools and shortage of materials,” he said. “Unemployment is at 85 percent and the situation is quite dire.
“In recent years the standard of education has fallen, and girls are quite disadvantaged at the moment, with high rates of teenage pregnancies. Of the students there, the majority can’t afford access to the internet, so hard books are still the main source of information.
“My desire is for every child to have access to education and be better prepared to face the ever-changing world – that no-one is left behind. Education in my opinion is the first port of call for anyone who stands a chance to compete in today's world. I think a well-resourced library will be a great help to the school.
“I’d like to say a massive thank you to the Culdrose family and staff for their generosity and it will make a huge difference to those students in Zimbabwe.”