Ho etsahetseng  ka metsi a rona?

Buka ena ke ya

Every child should own a hundred books by the age of five. To that end, Book Dash gathers creative volunteers to create new African storybooks that anyone can freely print, translate and distribute. Then we work with partners to give those books to preschool children to own.
To find out more, and to download beautiful, open-licensed, print-ready books, visit bookdash.org.

Ho etsahetseng ka metsi a rona?
(What’s happened to our water?)
Illustrated by Megan Naudé
Written by Sue Adams
Designed by Sinomtha Sikunyana
Translated by Mohau Phillip Letsie
with the help of the Book Dash participants in Cape Town on 20 September 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-997425-60-1
Typeset in Titan One and Quicksand
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence  (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
You are free to share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) this work for any purpose, even commercially.  The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the following license terms:
You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. No additional restrictions: You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Megan Naudé   •   Sinomtha Sikunyana   •   Sue Adams

Mfubu, kubu, o dula ka hara letamo la  hae le leholo la metsi.

Ke rata ho bidika le ho qwela!

QAPHA

PHATLA

Empa hona jwale ho na le bothata bo boholo.

Metsi a ditshila haholo, ha ke bone.  Sheba ditshila tsena kaofela!

Ke ikutlwa ke hloname. Ke hloka metswalle ya ka ho nthusa ho fumana bothata.

PHO!

Pele o fumana Hoppy Heron.
Le yena o hloname.

Metsi a nkga haholo!
Ditlhapi di a shwa!
Ha ke na letho leo nka le jang!

QHOMA

PHAPHATHA

EH!

Ha re nyoloheng ka noka
ho bona hore na re ka fumana bothata.

Ba kopana le Jambo, tlou.  O shebahala a hloname.

Metsi a latsweha hampe haholo,  nke ke ka a nwa.

SHWAA

FAFATSA

SEE!

Ha ba fihla haufi le moo batho ba dulang teng,  ba a ema mme ba a sheba.

Ke batho ba silafatsang noka.

Dumelang! Ke hobaneng ha le shebahala  le hloname hakaale?

Bohlaswa ba lona bo nkgang hampe bo silafatsa noka ya rona! Bo a re kudisa.

Re maswabi haholo! Re tlameha ho fumana thuso ho lokisa taba ena.

KwaAAK!

Ho se ho phirimile ... mme diphoofolo di kgathetse.  Peipi ya metsi e lokisitswe mme dikgwerekgwere di fedile.

PHATLA!

PHAPHATHA!

Mme jwale re ka ya hae.

FAFATSA!

Nahana feela!  Letamo le se  le hlwekile.

Nahana feela!  Metsi a se a nkga betere.

Nahana feela! Metsi a se a latsweha a hlwekile.

E bile letsatsi le monate.