Newsletter March 2012 Second Draft.pub - Maru-a

maru-a-pula newsletter
TERM 1 2013
MARCH 2013
NEWSLETTER
PUTTING YOU ON THE MAP
Fun Day kicks off 40th Anniversary
Saturday February 4 marked
the beginning of celebrating
Maru-a-Pula’s 40th Anniversary
with a Family Fun Day. The
event featured exotic dishes
from around the world, entertainment that ranged from a
magic show to a fashion show
to MaP marimbas, and vendors with all kinds of local
products.
MaP parents provided global
cuisine, featuring foods from
15 countries including Botswana, England, Uganda, India,
China, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Jamaica, Canada,
South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Germany, Serbia and
Greece. Food stalls were a
huge hit and most food sold
out before the day was done
as attendees tried the many
mouthwatering
dishes.
The day began with the kickoff of the ever-popular MaP
Inside this issue:
Americanbound: New
2
A tribute to par- 3
ents
MaP @ Olympic 4
Games
New library
opens
5
New TAs
6
US tour for Marimba
6
Permaculture
101
7
Shibobo League. Thereafter, a plethora of local and
MaP performers entertained
guests
through
music,
magic, and fashion; these
included our own Fine
brothers (also known as
Atomic Aura).
Kalvin Kol-Kes threw together a smashing fashion
show featuring six Batswana
designers including school
alumnus
Aobakwe
Moloiswa. Other attractions
included a magic show, a
jumping castle, a mechanical bull and stalls run by
teachers and students to
raise funds for our various
community
projects.
Over 1,100 people went
through the Maru-a-Pula
gates on Saturday to celebrate our 40th Anniversary. The proceeds from
the day’s festivities went to
the school’s Orphan and
Vulnerable Children Bursary
Fund.
Almost 50,000 Pula
was raised for the fund.
MaP’s birthday celebrations
did not end there. MaP will
continue celebrating its
birthday throughout the
year. The next upcoming
event is our July alumni reunion, which brings together
alumni from the past 40
years on the July 6-8 weekend
Sam Jewett / TA
Stellar Results for MaP Students
Maru-a-Pula is widely known for its consistent history of excellent
IGCSE results. Once again, this year’s students kept the flame going.
The tagline this year is ‘ Excellence has 55 new faces’.
Forty IGSCE students made it into our gallery of stars of students
who achieved 6 or more As, including Dilan Sridaran, who received the highest grades: 9A*s and 1A. Three students achieved
8A*s, a further nine achieved 7 A*s, six students had 6A*s and another ten students achieved 5A*s!
There were also fifteen senior students on the list of our fifty five top
-achievers: 9 AS students, and 6 students who have completed
their A-level studies.
Four students achieved straight As in AS exams, while in the A2
exams, Ajanthan Sridaran achieved the highest grades with 4A*s.
Newsletter congratulates
brothers Dilan and Ajay
Sridaran, our Top Students
at IGCSE and A levels
MARU-A-PULA NEWSLETTER
MaP Library Extension Officially Opens
“Success is
achieved
when all
parts work
together”
On Thursday, February 16,
2012, MaP principal Mr. Andrew Taylor and Mascom
CEO Mr. Jose Couceiro officially opened the annex of
the school library.
The ribbon-cutting followed
a small ceremony attended
by MaP staff, scholarship
students, senior executives
from Mascom, the library’s
architect, and members
of
the
press.
n his remarks, Mr. Taylor
mapped the history of the
school’s library from 1980,
through 1981 (when the first
proper library was donated
to MaP by the United States
government,) up to the
present. Our library can fully
cater to the school’s 650
s t u d e n t s .
Mascom’s motto—“success
is achieved when all parts
work together”—is very ap-
plicable to the MaP community, according to Mr
Taylor.
He also noted that the
library workspace will help
students forge into teams
that work together, and
“when you have better
teams, it leads to better
nations, and better nations lead to a better
world full of peace and
justice “
Seven MaP Scholars Bound for the USA
The results are in and we’re
proud to say that a fresh
crop of MaP future leaders
will further their education
overseas.
“I am very
excited in that
students who have
respect to go The
been awarded scholarto school in ships to high schools in the
United States are:
the United
Bowie-Mofefe to
States.” • Mpho
Catlin Gabel School
PAGE 2
•
Nomfumelo Mafunda
to Menlo School
•
Gaone Moetse to The
Hotchkiss School
•
Felicity Mampe to The
Hil School
•
•
•
Ntsoaki Rampa to The
Taft School
Katlo Gasewagae to
Hawken School
N i co le
Sa l ani
to
Hawken School
We recently interviewed a
student who got a scholarship (they would like to remain anonymous) and
they had this to say, “I
really think that the scholarships are a good opportunity for well-deserving students to go and experience life abroad, represent
MaP as well as further their
education.
This shapes their future in
the sense that it allows
them to get into the best
American colleges. I am
very excited in that respect
to go to school in the
United States.”
Congratulations to these
scholars, and we wish them
the best of luck on their
future academic ventures
in ‘the land of the free and
the home of the brave!’
Khanyi Hadebe
TERM 1 2013
MaP Hosts Seasoned Educator Joan Countryman
Joan Countryman was the
first African-American
graduate at Germantown
Friends School; afterwards,
she was a maths teacher
for 23 years, head of Lincoln School for 12 years,
and worked with the
Oprah Winfrey Leadership
Academy for one year.
She grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, near
the east coast of the
United States. Growing up,
her parents instilled in her
that, "They can steal your
money, but they can't take
away your education".
This taught her that learning was more important
than any kind of wealth.
“By the time I finished GFS I
was deeply committed to
the idea that we all can
and should be life-long
learners” she states.
After high school she completed her undergraduate
studies at Sarah Lawrence,
a small liberal arts college
in New York. S
She then completed her
graduate studies at the
prestigious Yale University
and at the London School
of Economics.
After serving as the head of
a school for girls in Providence, Rhode Island, she
received a call which
turned out to be an invitation to serve as a consultant to Ms Oprah Winfrey at
The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in
South Africa.
With regards to her brief
stay at Maru-a-Pula this
term, she has to say
“The entire time I was at
Maru-a-Pula I thought,
what a lively school! I was
delighted to meet so many
students and teachers engaged in pursuing excellence and community in a
lovely environment. I am
grateful that I had a
chance to visit.
“Working in Africa has
given me new insights
about education in my
own country,” she concluded.
“The entire
time I was at
Maru-a-Pula I
thought, what
a lively
school!” - J.
Countryman
(USA)
Nyakallo Lekuta
MaP Marimba Band Set for USA Tour
The school’s Marimba Band
will embark on their second
-ever tour of the United
States in mid-April.
The band jets into the JFK
international airport in New
York City on April 14, and
will leave Boston for Gaborone on May 1st.
Led by Marimba head Mr.
Mhlanga, the group will
spend the two-week tour in
and around the New York
area, where they will have
concerts at various schools
and performances in private settings.
The band will have host
families for part of their tour
and also stay at schools like Hotchkiss, Milton
Academy.
They will also get time to hang out with former
MaP students, do some shopping and take leisurely strolls amid the high-rise, architectural majesty of New York City.
PAGE 3
MARU-A-PULA NEWSLETTER
MaP’s New Teacher Aides
Ian Robinson was born in
Alaska, USA and previously
attended The Hotchkiss
School in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States.
Dominic Mhiripiri was born in Chitungwiza, a small town outside of
Harare, Zimbabwe. He is currently
attending Brown University in the
USA, studying economics and actuarial science.
Ian flew about twenty-three
hours from America to Gaborone to experience Africa, and work at MaP before setting off for school at
Trinity College in Connecticut later this year.
Ian will be at Maru-a-Pula
for two terms and has already described his stay so
far as amazing. He says that
although there are many
differences between Botswana and USA, the stu-
Dominic chose to come to Marua-Pula because for his gap-year,
he wanted to experience a community in sub-Saharan Africa but
outside of Zimbabwe where he
can make a positive difference.
dents’ passion for learning
is very similar in both countries.
Ian is helping out in Physical Education, academic
tutoring and the a capella
group, White Noise.
He describes MaP students as engaging, confident and eager to
gain knowledge. He is helping out
the first team cricket, the school
newsletter and academic tutoring.
Kaone Montshioa
Op-Ed—A Tribute to Parents
To many of us, the only time
when we feel that our parents
are kind and generous is
when they present us with an
expensive gift.
Otherwise, do we ever realise
the other thoughtful things
that they have done for us?
Sometimes they do get annoyed and get rather angry
at us, but should we get angry
for that?
Throughout our lives, it is really
unimaginable thinking about
how much our parents have
given us. They have spent, are
spending and will spend a
PAGE 4
fortune
alone.
on
our
education
Besides this, they have given
essential skills and knowledge
that will make our future a lot
easier.
Most of what they try to do for
us is to ensure that we are
headed in the right direction.
Are there any words to describe what our parents are doing for us?
On the other hand however,
parents can be very frustrated
with us for the wrong reasons. It
always is bound to happen;
maybe they had a bad day at
work or are just not in the
mood and out of the blue, they
vent on us, and it really can be
discouraging.
It does not feel satisfying when
you are being thrown around by
words for nothing you did wrong,
does
it?
All our parents are different. Some
may be laid-back and the others
tough and strict.
They all have one thing in common: they have their ups and
downs. The matter of the fact is
that parents are like jewels; do
not ever forget how valuable
they are.
Our parents have gone through
the same thing that we are going
through and have realised how
important what their parents did
for them was, and one day we
will too
Adithya Lakshminarayanan
MARU-A-PULA
Interview with Ms Palframan
P
E
R
M
A
C
U
L
T
U
R
E
“Going
outdoors
was
something
very
special
and it’s
something
I think we
take for
granted
here at
MaP” - Ms
Palframan
PAGE 5
What is permaculture garden
all about?
Permaculture garden is all
about promoting a way of
living with our natural environment that doesn’t damage it
and uses it productively in a
complementary
fashion.
Really, to be honest, in our
permaculture garden, we’re
just starting to get to grips
with some of the principles of
real permaculture .
One of the important things
that we are doing quite well
on is the promoting of indigenous plants so in real permaculture, you don’t introduce species that are not
indigenous or local to that
area because they will not be
in harmony with the natural
habitat.
So, in our permaculture garden, we have indigenous
herbal teas and vegetables.
For example, the wild beans
which, out in Botswana, grow
wild but we are actually cultivating them and promoting
them partly to make people
aware that these vegetables
are available for everybody
in their part of the natural
world.
Another thing we are doing is
using techniques which get
the best out of the soil without
using fertilizers and chemicals
so that sounds like organic
farming, doesn’t it, really?
One of the things we’ve done
is to cultivate in one area
where we have put down dry
grass to create mulch and
covered it with cardboard
from the recycling area
which is obviously biodegradable and with lots of
water on it, it de-composes
and makes nice mulch and it
also prevents the weeds from
growing
Is it something that runs in
your family?
No. It’s something I was interested in because in the UK,
we did horticulture and I was
involved in supervising it; it
created a very a nice, social
atmosphere and it helps people to appreciate the world
around them and personally,
I like it.
I like being outdoors and being able to do some work in
the garden and see at the
end of it, what you’ve done.
I’m not an expert by any
means, I’m learning more
here, but it’s something that I
do because I think it’s enjoyable.
How long have you been doing it?
Here at MaP, well since I
came, I took it on from the
first term and we’ve learnt a
lot and we’ve improved a lot,
so... not very long, really. But
in England, we ran courses for
a couple of years actually, in
the school where students
were getting qualifications for
culture.
Where did you get your inspiration to do that?
I got my inspiration in England
initially where I had some students who, because they
had particular issues in the
school and had been taken
out of certain lessons, spent a
lot of time in one single classroom.
It made me feel that they
needed to get outside and
experience a bit more natural
light and space; now, at Map,
you’re very lucky because you
move from classroom to classroom. You’re not contained in
a building but in England, we
were contained in buildings all
the time. So going outdoors
was something very special
and it’s something I think we
take for granted here at MaP.
Does it take any experience or
knowledge of plants?
It doesn’t at all. We’re very
lucky. We have the horticulturist who is there some weeks;
every week, we have Itumeleng who is a school employee and works in the garden and he will show each
student how to do the tasks
and he will show me as well.
So we work together as a
team to ensure that when we
are weeding, and that students are pulling out weeds.
When we are planting, the
hole is deep enough and that
the right amount of compost is
put in and that the right
amount of water is put in at
the right stage so there’s always somebody there to
guide you.
Nobody comes to the permaculture garden at MaP with
expertise; we’re all coming as
learners and we’re all coming
to enjoy the environment.
MARU-A-PULA NEWSLETTER
New Service:
Hajee Goolam Mustapha’s Children’s Home
Give a man
a fish, and
he will feed
himself for
a day but if
you give a
man a fishing-rod
and he will
feed
for
life.’
Lao Tzu
If you give a child an opportunity to study,
he will be successful and the children in
Goolam Mustapha Children’s home are putting this into practice.
process of enrolling in universities.
We wish our best to them and hope
they will be successful in the future.
Goolam Mustapha Children’s home, which is
situated on Plot 5148, Wood crescent in the
village Gaborone, is a small children’s home
which only has boys.
Every Tuesday, Mr. Hussein takes MAP students there to help out children with their
homework and play games with them.
As they grow older, MaP will also assist in their
Barclays Build
For the next two terms,
Barclays build will be
working towards their
goal of fundraising P11,
000. To collect this
amount, they will be
holding a car wash, a
raffle draw and selling
doughnuts. With this
money, they will be setting up a pre-school in
the Delta. They are welcome to any sugges-
tions as to how else they
could raise this amount.
Their appeal to all of us is
that no matter who ever
you are or how insignificant your contribution
may be, do not hold
back. Any donations and
support towards their
worthy venture would be
sincerely appreciated
Adithya Lakshminarayanan
Cancer Association Toiletries Drive
PAGE 6
TERM 1 2013
Inter-House Athletics
Inter-house Athletics Day Saturday was a very fun, vibrant
and colourful day as MaP
held Inter-house Athletics
Day.
As you entered the front
gate you could hear the
shouts and cheers from each
house; team spirit filled the
air.
tell who was dominating the
day.
M-House and L-House ran great
races and put a lot of effort
and heart into the day.
In the end L-House was first
place with 622 points beating K
-House by 36 points with 586. MHouse
L-House and K-House were
head to head in almost every
race, and it was impossible to
Kaone Montshioa
Inter-House Swimming
There was tension in the air as the four houses, J, K, L
and M battled it out on Thursday, February 2. The atmosphere was full of joy and ferocity.
Initially, K House took the lead but eventually L House
caught up and caused a neck to neck showdown. J
house also had a good start but L & K houses proved
to be dominant. M house put in a lot of effort but
ended up falling back.
Eventually K and L House gave us a surprise as they
made the first draw in the history of MaP swimming.
They both scored 262, followed closely by J house
which had 190 and M house had 88 points. Overall it
was a great competition and we wish to congratulate the participants.
Winnie Ngwanaamonna
MaP at the Olympics!
Top swimmer and current MaP
student,
Naomi
Ruelle
(pictured), is set to represent
Botswana at the 2012 London
Olympics this summer.
Ruelle was a late draft into the
national team, and has been
training for global sporting showcase in Sydney, Australia, since
late February this year.
before the games begin.
Head of MaP Sports Mr. Bruce
Nkala expressed the school’s
pride in the accomplishments of
these current and former students
who will represent the school
and the nation on the global
stage.
We wish them the best.
Editor
MaP is further represented at the
games by two other former students. The school’s first ever
Olympian John Kamyuka (a
2007 MaP graduate who took
part in the 2008 Beijing Olympics), and Deandra van der
Colff, who graduated last year,
will both be part of Team Botswana in London.
According to Botswana Swimming Sports Association (BSSA),
the swimmers’ training camp in
Australia will last for four months
PAGE 7
Dates for Your Diary
Newsflash!
MaP Athletes Bring the Gold Home Again!
PUTTING YOU
ON THE MAP