Safaris Specialists was very proud to host a Botswana 50th Community Lunch for the elderly as an early celebration for the Botswana’s Independence Day on 30^th September. It was very heart-warming to be part of such an event and would like to share our experience with you.

Kagiso Bojosi, in charge of our community projects, suggested we host a Botswana 50^th Community Lunch for the elderly living in the ward (area) close to our Maun office.

The whole country is getting excited about the 50th Independence and she felt that the elderly may miss out on the celebrations due to lack of mobility, transport and funds.

In addition to providing a lunch and entertainment on Saturday 10^th September, we also arranged a take home care package that they could use afterwards including toiletries, cleaning goods, vegetable seeds and some sweets.

We received some great support from the Maun business community for donations to help us with the Botswana 50th Community Lunch. Delta Meat’s owner Mr Heinrich supplied us with the meat we needed for the day and Mr Veg’s senior manager Suresh gave us a fantastic discount on the vegetables. Fours wholesalers kindly wrapped our care packages and our own Kagiso provided most of the chairs.  The local community pulled together in the traditional manner to provide a marquee tent, cooking pots and chairs.  We thank everyone for their efforts and hope they realize what impact they are also making together with us.

Tasks were divided up between the Safari Specialists team and we arranged everything from painting the Kgotla (village place of meeting) to ordering, buying, collecting, baking and making paper flowers – along with arranging safaris (our real job!). The last week of preparations was a bit of a blur, but in the end all worth it.

The Botswana’s 50^th Community Lunch for the elderly kicked off early in the morning when a fire was made for the big cooking pots. People from far and wide far pitched in and started peeling, chopping and cooking. The elderly watched how the cheerfully young crowd prepared their lunch for them, I think it was such a treat for them to see what I can only explain to you as unconditional love being put into this day for them from everyone involved.So we are ready for our next Botswana’s 50^th Community project…….well maybe give us another week to recover from all the hard work and then we are ready!