As far as Tom was concerned, it was dinner at a friend’s house. Nothing more. He wasn’t looking for, still less expecting, any life-changing encounter, not in the year of his sixtieth birthday. Tom had enough on his plate already and plenty to digest from what had been to that point a full, hard-working and, some would say, privileged life.
A product of prestigious institutions Wellington School, Sandhurst Military Academy and Oxford University, Tom served in the Scots Guards before becoming the founder chairman of the Association of Lloyd’s Members and a director of numerous companies. That was not all. Before being elected as one of Mrs Thatcher’s MPs, representing Abingdon in 1979, Tom had founded the Guidepost Trust charity in support of people with diverse mental illnesses, helping them acquire new skills and opportunities in life. Tom had also been a district councillor, chair of one health authority and director of another.
Somehow, from A for Abingdon MP, to B for businessman, C for charity founder and councillor, H for health and S for soldier, he added G for governor of two schools, Abingdon and Winslow. Even so, nothing in his extraordinary life and career had prepared Tom for dinner at his friend’s house in 2002.
Unexpectedly, he was introduced to Cathy, a reserved, quietly spoken lady suffering from polio and rather unwilling to say anything about herself. Finally, giving in to Tom’s questions, she revealed that she came from Zimbabwe, that her brave husband, Martin, had fought back when Mugabe’s henchmen came in one of the early farm repossessions, but had died in their murderous attack. In fear of her life, with what little money she had left Cathy fled to Britain with her two children.
Tom had heard enough. After dinner that night he resolved to do what he could to give Cathy and her children the means to settle in Britain. True to his word, he did so, raising £8,000 in the process. Tom’s selfless efforts in helping Cathy attracted the attention of another extraordinary lady, a former MI6 officer who had previously been stationed in Africa. Dame Daphne Park was a stranger to ambiguity. She contacted Tom, made clear she admired what he had done for Cathy, and told him in no uncertain terms that she believed he could help thousands more of Robert Mugabe’s victims. Even philanthropically minded people need a push sometimes.
Tom didn’t wait for a second invitation. He set up a charity with his wife, Jane, through which they could raise funds to assist more like Cathy. They called it ZANE: Zimbabwe a National Emergency.
And so it was. In 2002 Zimbabwe, suspended by the Commonwealth, in the grip of a social, economic and lawless crisis, had inflation running at 500%, unemployment at 90%. No health service, no social services existed in any shape or form. Sanctioned by the fraudulently re-elected Robert Mugabe, hundreds of white farm owners like Cathy’s husband, were targeted, and forced to leave or brutally murdered. That was the reality of Zimbabwe facing Tom.
At first ZANE helped six people, in similar circumstances to Cathy, leave the country. At a time when so many young people and professionals were leaving Zimbabwe, Tom was especially moved by the plight of impoverished pensioners and war veterans who were left behind, with no choice but to stay.
In the early days of ZANE, when it was still a young, new and small operation, Tom held a meeting for war veterans in Bulawayo. Without hesitation he told them that because of their service he would look after them. Tom later recalled,
‘A very old but sprightly man called from the front row, ”Even me?’
“Why not you?”
“My name is Hauptmann Schmidt. I fought in Hitler’s army.”
The room froze. Then laughter. I muttered that grass grows on all battlefields, and why not.’
Hauptmann Schmidt thus became one of the first to benefit from the philanthropy of Tom Benyon.
But there was a problem. As he got to know the country and the people better, Tom discovered the deepest need in every aspect of society. He believed that he and the committed team of Zimbabweans he had recruited to work for ZANE could do more, much more.
Approaching 25 years after that realisation, the achievements and programmes of ZANE are almost too many to list, thanks in no small part to Tom’s personal commitment to fundraising. With each new challenge Tom’s attitude has been to give the same response he gave to Herr Schmidt.
That’s why in Zimbabwe today ZANE runs prosthetic limbs and hearing aids programmes. It’s why there are ZANE pop-up classrooms and business development projects. The charity has feeding programmes and offers aid to prisoners. More than 2,000 impoverished pensioners and over 450 war veterans and their widows are being supported with food and healthcare.
ZANE has even started its own basic healthcare system to supply veterans and pensioners with pills and medicines to help with diabetes, heart and prostate conditions. It delivers education programmes in a high-density area assisting women and children living in extreme poverty.
Tom’s attitude as a philanthropist also led to ZANE establishing Zimbabwe’s first clubfoot correction programme for children. Across the country 15 treatment centres have now been established, nearly 6,000 children treated.
The letter Z was a long time coming in Tom’s life. He thinks of it now as one of the reasons he was born. And why not?