17 August 2015
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Near the start of this term, a local newspaper made a dire prediction: “Botswana Faces a Cold, Dark Winter”. Yes, it was chilly and loads were shed. But MaP students, staff and a host of visitors generated abundant warmth and light during an inspiring second term. Here are ten highlights:
1. “The Harvards”: Six students affectionately known as “the Harvards” – Natalie Antunez, Jessica Sithebe, Melissa Joseph, Alondra Ramirez, Caleb Johnson and Paul Stainier – spent eight weeks sharing their academic skills, dancing, singing and playing epic games of “Capture the Flag” with our students. Peter Green, Deputy Head at Sir Seretse Khama Community Junior School, captured their impact outside MaP with this note: “Thanks very much for the great work that the Harvard students are doing with our Form 3 students. They are superb motivators and are really making Science fun!”
2. Leadership Trainer, Caitlin Hickerson: MaP claims to be “Launching Africa’s Leaders” but we don’t yet do enough to train our students to be leaders. Horace Mann History teacher, Caitlin Hickerson, has shown us what is possible. In her month-long work from 2nd July – 4th August, Caitlin helped MaP students see what leadership is and how leaders act. Building on the idea that “leadership is action, not position,” our new Lower Middle 6th students raised P2400 for a family living in Mogonnye who lost their home and all their worldly possessions to fire. In their effort to help one family, our new Top Achiever students noted: “Ms. Hickerson made us feel like a family.”
3. Groton’s English Teacher, Peter Fry: Following in the footsteps of last year’s visit by two Groton teachers, Peter Fry shared his passion for literature and poetry with a variety of MaP English classes from 6th – 23rd July. While Peter inspired our students, Peter’s wife, Gretchen, sons Trevor and Malcolm, and daughter, Phoebe, enjoyed taking part in a variety of MaP’s classes and activities.
4. School Drama Production of Kurana: In a delightful adaptation of the Cinderella story set in ancient Egypt, six months of preparation paid off with a highly entertaining show. Superb music and singing, colourful costumes and innovative staging all contributed to a memorable evening, appreciated by all ages. A tip of the hat to director, Clayton Ndlovu, musical director, Laone Thekiso, and a talented cast of students playing the awful sisters, evil stepmothers, glamorous princes and cruel rulers of the underworld.
5.The Productive Jonathan Laverick: MaP’s 6th Form Director, Jonathan Laverick, has
been remarkably productive of late. Jonathan not only published his first book --The Kalahari Killings: the True Story of a Wartime Double Murder in Botswana, 1943 – but also fathered his first child. Mother, Joanna, and daughter, India, are doing just fine.
6. MaP Students Excel in English & Maths Olympiads: Three Maru-a-Pula students - Vamika Sinha, Tawanda Mulalu and Nandini Kochar - ranked in the top 15 of the 2015 De Beers EnglishOlympiad. This prestigious English Language and Literature competition takes place annually and receives over 7000 entries from high schools throughout South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique.Maru-a-Pula is the only school in this year's competition to place three candidates in the top 15. All three students took part in the National Schools Festival in Grahamstown from 12th – 17th July where they enjoyed a programme of activities, celebrating English, Drama and Art. On the mathematics front, Form 4 MaP student, Ga Ram Park, travelled to Chiang Mai, Thailand with a team to represent Botswana at the 56th International Mathematics Olympiad from 7th – 17th July.
7. Verbal Emancipation & Tutti & Soli: On 26th June, the Maitisong stage showcased student poetry, song, dance and music in the annual Verbal Emancipation show. Performer Tawanda Mulalu paid tribute to the occasion, saying: “the brilliance of Verbal Emancipation lies in the safe place it provides for young artists to gather and share pieces of themselves with each other and then the world.”
This year’s Tutti and Soli was, as expected, bigger and better than the previous ones! On 16th July, Maitisongfilled with delightful sounds emanating from over 50 students. The audience was treated to spectacular performances from the school orchestra, the MaP Marimba Band and Nteta, the school a cappella group. The Junior Marimba Band played well and a record number of soloists either sang or played the piano.
8. The Visit of Father Tony Jarvis: On 15th July, Episcopal priest Tony Jarvis visited MaP and encouraged students to “do something great with your one and only earthly life.” Father Jarvis, a former headmaster at the Roxbury Latin School in Boston, is now Director of the Educational Leadership and Ministry Program at Yale. A long-time friend of Maru-a-Pula and former trustee of the American Friends of Maru-a-Pula, Fr. Jarvis helps raise between P50,000 and P100,000 annually for Map’s Orphans and Vulnerable Children Scholarship Program. Fr. Jarvis spoke at assembly and then led our Form 2s and Form 4s in inspiring and provocative discussions later in the morning.
9. BIHL OVC Donation: On 9th July 2015, BIHL representatives, including the Trust Chairman Major General Bakwena Oitsile and Group CEO Gaffar Hassam, handed over a cheque for P200,000 to the school’s OVC fund. Since 2009, BIHL has donated to the OVC programme for six consecutive years, with the total to-date reaching P1.2 million. BIHL Trust’s donations have fully supported ten students with tuition and boarding fees, clothing, pocket money and medical bills, along with all other necessary expenses.
10. MaP Brings More Bundles of Brightness to Malwelwe and Marejwane: On 11thJuly 2015, the Operation Starfishgroupvisitedthe villagesof Malwelwe and Marejwane. Initiated in January 2014, with the help of MaP alumna, Caroline Desai, this poverty alleviation scheme works inpartnershipwith the Bundles of Brightness projectinitiated by the Riverside Church in Harlem, New York, with the aim of providing uniforms, solar lights and job opportunities to impoverished villages in Africa.
MaP students were shocked at the dire conditions they encountered at Marejwane, a settlement seven kilometres away from Malwelwe. No water had been delivered in two months and the only food the people had was what was given to them by our students that very day. Children living in the settlement only went to school three times a week due to the journey being too strenuous to make without water. Some even woke up at three in the morning to walk the seven kilometres to school in order to make it in time. On the way back, MaP students discussed ways to improve the standards of living of the people of Marejwane, including the possibility of sponsoring a borehole.
Visitors & Student Exchanges
Student Exchange Coordinator, Tlotlego Gaogakwe, assisted our numerous 2nd term visitors:
· Roxbury Latin (RL): RL students, Logan Warshaw and Jake Rooney, stayed for two weeks, 8th -22nd June.
· Tamagawa Academy: 13 students and 3 teachers stayed for four days, 28th July - 2nd Aug.
· Mophato Private School (Francistown): 12 students and 2 teachers visited for a day to benchmark our IGCSE Setswana and other Form 4 classes. “We’ve heard a lot of great stuff about Maru-a-Pula,” said Mophato student Tanya Bachisi. “We really admire the school so we thought we’d come and get a few ideas.”
· Motswedi CJSS (Gaborone): Eight Form 3s visited as full-time students for a week, 27th -31st July. This is a continuing relationship from last year and the aim is to forge friendships between our students and inspire excellence for the Motswedi students.
· Harvard Center for African Studies Student Support & Outreach Officer, Nthathisi Quella, visited for a day, 30th July.
MOESD Top Achievers & Debswana Scholars
The Ministry reversed its earlier decision to withdraw sponsorship for those students who earned 4 or 5 A*s at BGCSE and IGCSE level. Support is no longer restricted to those who have earned at least 6A*s.
We currently have 51 Top Achievers and six additional government students have deferred entry until January, 2016. Debswana has indicated that MaP is their “preferred provider”; we currently have 13 Debswana Scholars.
Communications & Maitisong Update
Shakespeare Anniversary Funding: Alastair Hagger submitted a successful request for P500,000 to fund Shakespeare-related activity at MaP and Maitisong in 2016 to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. This was done in partnership with the British Council, the British High Commission and the UK Foreign Office’s ‘Great Campaign’. Actors and theatre practitioners will be invited from the UK and South Africa for performances and workshops at Maitisong, MaP and at participating secondary and primary schools in Botswana. This project will launch in November 2015, with the bulk of activity in February, March and April 2016, culminating in a flagship event as part of Maitisong Festival 2016.
Maitisong’s Digital Newsletter: Alastair Hagger has edited and designed an online publication, The Mighty Song, Maitisong’s digital newsletter, which provides an excellent overview of this year’s Festival. The August issue features Gao Lemmenyane's review of the year so far, previews of upcoming events, and student arts journalism by MaP Journalists Nandini Kochar and Mallika Senthil.
Strategic Plan Update
We have been working closely with MaP parent Marion Simon on data gathering for the strategic plan. Survey Monkey questionnaires were sent to the entire MaP community and eight focus groups -- teachers (1), admin staff (1), operations staff (1), parents/alumni (2), students (2), boarders (1) -- were convened in July to discuss the survey results. All this hard work will culminate in the Council’s strategic planning session on Saturday, September 26th.
Sports Update
MaP competes in two leagues: BISA & ISSSA:
1. BISA is the Botswana Integrated Sports Association which includes 209 government junior schools and 32 senior schools.
2. ISSSA is the Independent Secondary School Sports Association with 13 member schools.
This term’s highlights are as follows:
Basketball
Girls:U19 and U14 are 1st in ISSSA. U16 and U19 qualified to the ‘Top Eight’ BISA games.
Boys:U19 are champions while U17 are 3rd at BISA. In ISSSA, all our boys’ teams earned 1st position.
· MaP students selected for Confederation of School Sports in Southern Africa (COSSASA) games: Lesedi Serema 4L, Eric Stegman 4K, Tumelo Bowie 3M, Leitse Mtonga 3L, Kaelo Tibe 4J were selected for the games to be held in Zimbabwe in August, 2015.
· Kaelo Tibe was selected for Basketball without Borders as a developing player in Africa.
Netball:U14 and U19 girls won 1st place while U16 came 3rd in ISSSA. In BISA, U19 placed 5th at the Nationals.
Football: U19 came 3rd while U14 and 16 placed 4th in ISSSA.
Arrivals & Departures
We welcomed the following to the MaP staff this term:
· Graham Creighton (teaching History and English, replacing Pete Vernon)
· Four new Princeton in Africa Fellows: Anya Lewis-Meeks (Geography & History) Meg Gould (Maths), Susan Tuberville (History & Art), Meghan Murphy (Science)
We had 14 highly-committed Teacher Aides working with us this term. They are:
Mbatshi Mudanga (IT)
Nicholas Stegman (PE)
Lerato Motshwagare (PE)
Wame Gaabake (Music)
Ryan Roels (Music)
Refilwe Mpai (Music)
Tudu Rabasha (Science)
Gaobaone Tshupelo (Science)
Faith Mbakhwa (Library)
One Pusumane (Front office)
Aaliyah Mussa (Communications)
Boitshepo Ramokate (Drama)
Moratwa Chamme (SPE)
Seabelo John (SPE)
We are bidding farewell, again, to Bruce Nkala (Maths teacher & SPE Director) who is taking up a post at the Shipley School in Pennsylvania. Drama teacher, Lebogang Disele, who has been with us for a term, is returning to UB to finish her doctorate. History and English teacher, Pete Vernon, returned to the USA to attend the Columbia University School of Journalism. Earlier this term we said farewell to our remaining Princeton in Africa Fellows: Nada Ali, Lauren Richardson and Lavina Ranjan.
We were delighted to host a welcome-back braai on 6th July for former MaP Principal, Malcolm McKenzie, who has just finished his first year as Head of the Keystone Academy, a new school in Shunyi, Beijing. We also hosted a farewell luncheon for former MaP teachers, Derek & Lyn James, who are joining family in Perth, Australia.
MaP’s Spirit & Impact
My faith in MaP’s spirit and special impact was affirmed by three letters received in the last few weeks:
From a MaP parent who is leaving Botswana:
Let me take this opportunity to thank you and Maru-a-Pula school for providing both Eric and Nicholas with a sound academic foundation, an environment of camaraderie and purpose, and staff that challenged them to stretch themselves intellectually, creatively and spiritually. I know both my boys have had great experiences at MaP, and will remember fondly the time they have spent there. – Peter Stegman, 21 July 2015
From a Harvard Intern after eight weeks at MaP:
This summer was special. And I think that I am not only speaking for myself, but for the rest of the Harvard interns, students, faculty, cats running around campus, and whatever other sentient beings were able to feel the aura that MaP's campus held. It was palpable and contagious. It’s something that I will cherish and work for reaching again.
What you have going at MaP is a good thing. Not only are you a Stanford "feeder school", but you do it in a way that makes it close to impossible to not see half of the kids smiling on campus at any given time. That was a clumsy sentence, but I think you get what I mean. It doesn't go unnoticed.
Thank you for welcoming myself and the rest of us into your community. We have only been gone for one day, but we miss it already. We miss hanging out in the link during boarding house duty. We miss the spontaneous dance circles in front of the cafeteria after dinner. We miss the sound of the doves and the water sprinklers on a cool, weekday morning. We miss MaP. Thank you for everything that you have given us. This summer was unlike any other. -- Caleb Johnson, 1 August 2015
From a former MaP student & Music teacher aide during the 2nd term:
Thank you. My (second) time at MaP was immensely enjoyable: the Music Department is wonderful; Scrabble Night is brilliant fun despite the low-level competition. I could keep enumerating, but I know your preference for anecdotes. Hence, allow me to present one of my favorite moments.