- Rising Above the Waters: Maun’s Charitable Movement in Action
What began as a communal dialogue tied to native tradition of celebrating the arrival of the floodwaters in Maun has metamorphosed into a major fundraising initiative called the Flood Arrival Raffle, combining local excitement with international support, raising over P150,000 for two key organizations: Women Against Rape (WAR) and the Polokong Society for the elderly.
“This river brings us all together,” Hennie Rawlinson, the man be behind the initiative said. “It always has.”
The Flood Arrival Raffle initiative’s roots stretch back to the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, when travel restrictions kept residents indoors.
“I have always been fascinated by the flood,” Rawlinson said in an interview. “But during Covid, people were locked down and nobody knew where the water was anymore. So I started a Facebook page and WhatsApp group to keep people updated.”
This digital outreach quickly gained traction, and with the blessing of the District Commissioner, Rawlinson began to document the flood’s advance toward Maun. “That year, we revived an old village tradition,” he explained, referring to informal bets placed on when the river would reach the Old Bridge the symbolic moment that signals the water’s arrival in Maun.
Instead of collecting money for fun, Rawlinson and a small group of locals turned the predictions into a charitable raffle. Participants could book a 15-minute time slot for when they believed the river would touch the Old Bridge. In 2020, the winning slot was May 13th at 02:45 AM confirmed via a live Facebook broadcast. That year’s prize, a 45-minute scenic flight donated by Helicopter Horizons, went to the winner, while the funds raised — about P60,000, were donated to WAR and Polokong.
Since then, the initiative has grown in scale and sophistication. In 2024, Rawlinson’s son, Jake Rawlinson an IT professional helped develop a website to automate the process, enabling people from around the world to select time slots and pay via PayPal.
This year, the grand prize sponsored by Natural Selection Safaris and Helicopter Horizons was a luxury three-night stay for two at Tawana Camp, valued at $16,000. The winner later auctioned the prize, raising an additional P62,000. Two local charter companies also donated scenic flights, whose seats were sold to further boost donations. With the help of generous individuals and businesses, the total funds raised reached nearly P160,000.
Rawlinson attributed the success of the initiative to the deep cultural and emotional connection Maun residents have with the river. “It is the lifeblood of Maun,” he said. “When the river arrives, it’s a time of celebration. People go to wash their faces in the first tongue of the water. It’s symbolic, it brings hope, fishing, irrigation, and life.”
The “following the river” culture around Maun and the Okavango Delta, is rooted in a survival strategy refined over millennia. The San (Basarwa) people, the earliest inhabitants, were intimately connected to these waterways for survival, as seen in their ancient presence and specialized “River Bushmen” groups. Later, Khoe (Khoikhoi) pastoralists followed rivers for livestock sustenanctheir spiritual and cultural practices to its flow. Finally, the Batawana solidified this tradition by establishing Maun, their capital, along the Thamalakane River, highlighting the river’s enduring role as the heart of life and settlement in the region.
With close to 24,000 followers on the initiative’s Facebook page, the excitement has gone global. “We get messages from people overseas who visited the Okavango and still follow the water every year,” Rawlinson noted. “They wake up and check the updates, it’s a happy thing.”
The 2025 raffle officially closed when the floodwaters reached the finish line at the Old Bridge. The final donation handover to the selected charities is expected in early August, once the last PayPal transactions have cleared.
Looking ahead, Rawlinson hopes to expand the raffle’s reach and include more prizes. “Now that we have a working system, we can fine-tune it. Add second and third prizes. The tourism and aviation companies here are very generous when it’s for a good cause.”
