Bana Ba Ditlou
Children of the Elephants
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20th May 2010
19th May 2010 will be a day remembered by Bana Ba Ditlou as the day when the building work started.
First we got the sand. It is a big problem in Kasane and in the whole of Northern Botswana: there is no sand!
There is no sand that can be used for building. The sand of this part of the Kalahari is so fine that it doesn't bind well with the cement. There are very few places where it is a little more coarse, and far away - that is why it is very expensive. Have you ever thought that sand could be a problem in the Kalahari?
On the 20th May we got cement - 60 bags and bricks - about 4.000 of them. We will need more than 8.000.
So we can start building tomorrow. After a long search we found a qualified builder. He will start most probably to work on the 21st May 2010 - tomorrow.

The children are very excited. They ask many questions and try to help us to count and arrange bricks. Here they bring you bricks in loose heaps, so we have to count them (168 short!) and put them together nicely in an orderly fashion.

Bricks and cement are some of the most expensive ingredients of the building.
The children are always around but this time the news is spreading about Bana Ba Ditlou. They come to see what is going on.
All of them were trying to help, especially Kgalalelo, who made sure the bricks are put in order.
It took as many hours to arrange more than 4.000 bricks in a nice staple like that.

One of the labourers, helper of the builder was working very hard the whole day, to prepare everything for the building work tomorrow.
Kgalalelo was the most active and hard working.
These cement bricks are heavy and rough.
After lifting a hundred of them you feel your muscles.

The children were asking again and again: what it will be this building? They still don't get the whole concept of Bana Ba Ditlou. But they were very happy to hear that there will be something to eat there and that some activities will be waiting for them.
When we were about to finish, many children came to see the new development - but then the camera was already gone.

The joy of something new in the air was great.

Even our youngest Nunu was there, witnessing a history being made - Bana Ba Ditlou slowly but steadily becomes a reality.

We hope that our dream of this social project will make a difference in the lives of those disadvantaged children.