TERM 1, ISSUE 1
March 2013
Newsletter
PUTTING YOU ON THE MAP
MaP Celebrates Student Excellence
Straight A*s at
IGCSE!
The IGCSE and AS/A Level results
were announced at the start of this
term and Maru-a-Pula is delighted
with the grades our students attained.
Congratulations to the
classes of 2012.
Interviewed for the Newsletter, Cyriac Cyriac, Katlego Lekoko and Adjoa Quainoo shared their tips on
how they performed brilliantly in
their final examinations.
Katlego: “I balanced my time and
made a lot of sacrifices, which
meant less TV, less hanging out with
friends and more time for school
work and studying.”
Adjoa: “I kept up to date with all
my homework; after all, homework
also counts as studying. I did many
past papers in preparation for my
examinations, utilized my study periods, tried to work consistently
throughout the year and my class
mates and I formed study groups.”
with my classmates for revision and
made sure to do one or two past
papers a day during exam time. I
tried to read ahead for most of my
subjects throughout the year, kept
up to date with my homework and
I listened attentively during lessons.”
Cyriac was the only student who
studied eleven subjects in his IGCSE
year, and he scored A*s for all of
them. An outstanding achievement, indeed!
Cyriac says he managed this because he chose subjects that interested him, so the curiosity kept him
going, and the study groups also
kept him motivated as he always
had to show up or else he would
be disappointing his study buddies.
Well done to all the top achievers.
You have done MaP proud.
You truly do reap what you sow!
Jameelah Wellio
Cyriac: “I made sure I was always
prepared for my tests to avoid panic and stress. I joined study groups
10 students from the IGCSE class of
2012 who achieved 6 or more A*s will
be eligible for Top Achievers Scholarships, an initiative of the Ministry of Education which will allow them to complete their studies at schools and universities around the world. A further 9
students qualified for scholarships to
complete their A Level or equivalent
studies within Botswana.
Cyriac Cyriac,
Mikambi Ng’ong’ola,
Pauline Galelemogwe,
Aaliyah Mussa,
Kayenaat Bhatnagar
Straight
As at
AS Level!
Asif
Gardari,
Weitong
Gou,
Caroline
Khalil, Uvindu
Wijesinghe,
(left) and
Andrija
Klaric,
Nishtha
Singh
Kukreja,
Candid
Lyamuya,
and Sakshi
Sindhwani
(right)
Straight As at A
Level!
Clockwise from
left:
Ibrahim Stracey,
Adjoa Quainoo,
Amrutha Mittapalli,
Nancy Bethuel,
Oatile Ramsay and
Aamirah Mussa
Newsletter
Marimbas Back in with a New Beat
An utmost perfectionist who travels
around the world beating irresistible
rhythms on the marimbas is our very
own Mr. Michael Sibanda, the newest member of the music family. He
has moved here with his wife, Theo,
and the youngest of his three children, Malaika.
Mr Sibanda was one of the top students taught by the late Alport
Mhlanga. He describes this as an
enthralling experience through
which his love for African music and
the marimbas was gradually amplified. He feels it’s an honour to take
the place of the unforgettable Mr.
Mhlanga, more commonly known
in his days as “Airport”, apparently
nicknamed as such because his
head resembled an aircraft run-
way.!
Mr. Sibanda, who recently transferred from St. Stithian’s College in
South Africa, has travelled with his
band from St. Stithian’s to Italy in
2008, to Finland in 2009 and to the
USA in 2010.
He describes MAP as a relaxed
community, where students
aren’t forced to show respect to
teachers through more than a
greeting, yet are amazingly disciplined. He also shares with us the
qualities he looks for in students
who are eager to join the MAP
marimba band: discipline, musical touch and love for the instrument.
Picture: http://www.earball.net
rhythms that come out of it,”
he says.
So let’s warmly welcome this
zealous music teacher and
sports fan, and wish him luck in
his forthcoming years at MAP.
“I love the marimba for the
sound, the joy it brings and the
Mallika Senthil
New (and Old) Kids on the Block
New face on campus this term is
Joanna Clarke, who hails from
Essex in the UK. Joanna says it
was always her plan to spend
part of her gap year in Africa,
and that a chance meeting with
Ms Parker’s sister is what led her
to applying to MaP. Joanna has
quickly made an impact and
become invaluable in assisting
with the planning and organization of the many sports events
we have been involved in this
term.
*
*
*
Two more new faces are Abhi
Gheeta and Susan Opondo,
both top students in their A Level
class at John Mackenzie in FranPage 2
cistown last year, and also joining
us for part of their gap time. Abhi is
kept busy making coffee and
coaching recorder students in the
Music Department, whilst Susan
spends her time updating details in
our alumni data base.
*
*
*
(Not that they are any less important) we are also pleased to
have as TAs Kelly Lekobe, Vasalisa
Tabak, Tamara Lottering and Adjoa
Quainoo, from our own class of
2012, as well as Nicole Sekoma
who is with us as a volunteer, continuing the work she did as a Yearbook photographer during her
time as a Sixth Form student here.
Editor
TERM 1, ISSUE 1
Shaka Zulu is Coming!
Strolling down the walkway outside
Maitisong recently, you
could hear a group of students
chanting
“Bayete!
Ngadla!
Bayete” and briefly have the
feeling of being on an 19th century African battlefield. Be not
afraid, for these are only the exhilarated voices of MaP students
bringing back to life one of Africa’s greatest legends. ‘Shaka
Zulu’.
Drama teacher Mr. Ndlovu has
taken on the daunting but rewarding task of directing and
producing a mass presentation
which includes a cast of more
than 100 students and teachers,
both onstage and backstage.
When asked what his inspiration
was, apart from the play being
his personal favourite, he described it as being a tale of our
continent’s heroes and legends.
“Our people, our history” he stated.
Source: cariboobrewing.com
The historical content of the
performance makes it different
from the other school productions that MaP has staged in
recent years, and will be extremely enriching to young
people in the audience, especially primary school students,
who are now learning Southern
African history.
Mr Ndlovu has also observed
the lack of boys contributing to
Performing Arts at MaP and
hopes ‘Shaka Zulu’ will revive
their enthusiasm for the subject. He confessed that the
audition process was strenuous
as MaP is bursting with talent
from all angles, and it was hard
to include everyone, but with
Shaka Zulu it was possible to
find enough space for everybody. Students who aren’t
necessarily strong in Drama are
also contributing their particular talents to the production by
helping to design and make
accessories from natural materials (which will be sure to gain
approval from the MaP Eco–
Warriors).
The 9th of April is Shaka Zulu’s
opening night, and it is a production that should be seen on
all three nights that it is showing,
as every show will have its own
unique characters.
The production uses exciting
mixtures of dramatic conventions such as singing, dancing
and miming to tell the gripping
story of Shaka Zulu’s rise and
fall, and will surely be one not to
be missed.
Mboko Basiami
MaP Shares Spotlight with Waterford Kamhlaba
“Peel Banana. Peel, peel Banana. Chop banana, chop, chop
banana...”
Over ninety-six students sang the
custom Waterford warm up song
and, although there was no power to light up the Maitisong stage,
all the bright smiles provided by
mostly MaP and Waterford Drama and Music students were
enough to compensate for the
power cut we were experiencing.
This year brought in a new, exciting twist to a school custom as,
for the first time, the MaP Drama
and Music students did not travel
to Swaziland but, instead, Waterford Kamhlaba visited us over a
period of three days. Students
from other IGCSE schools in Gaborone joined us for our activities
and a great opportunity was given to the group of students to
share and compare their
knowledge on different topics
and themes concerning their IGSCE course work. Marimba sticks
were also shared between the
MaP and Waterford students as
they were given the chance to
play marimbas together.
Students worked through the material which our exams will require
of us in both the Drama and Music sections.
The trip was not all work and no
play, as students were given the
chance to attend a highly suc-
cessful social dance, organised
by the teachers.
By the end of the three days,
there was a feeling of family between the schools, as we had
learnt more about each other,
and been given insights into the
material which we had shared.
There was a refreshing, energising feeling amongst both the
teachers and students as we
realised the power of Drama
and Music to bring together
people from different parts of
the world.
Mboko Basiami
Page 3
Newsletter
Camp Nelu: Bruises, Blotches and Buddies.
team-building activities, environmental lessons and
adventurous challenges.
Students divided into small groups and hiked the
mountainous trails, learning about local plant and
animal life. They worked together to conquer difficult situations like the “Mission Impossible” ropes
course. And, of course, they took out their homework frustrations on their teachers during paintball
wars.
At the campfire on the final night of the trip, what
stood out most to students were the new experiences.
In the early hours of a warm February morning, over
100 Form 2 MaP students gathered in the parking
lot to embark on the annual retreat to Camp Nelu.
By mid-afternoon, they found themselves surrounded by natural beauty at the foot of the Magaliesburg Mountain Range.
“Some activities I've never even heard of in my life,
like the giant swing,” said Abhiram Sasitharan. “At
first some activities were scary but, in fact, the scariest activities were the most fun. The experience was
really great.”
P.Vernon & Students
Over the course of the week, students participated
in an experiential learning curriculum involving
Maru-a-Pula and The Rising Sun : a Cultural Exchange
On the 7th of January, Mabedi Sennanyana and Eric Sentongo blasted
off to Tokyo on a student exchange.
They were welcomed by cheerful
people but freezing weather, they
were quickly escorted to Tamagawa,
where they met their host families.
Tamagawa Academy, founded in
1929, is a Christian school that gives
particular emphasis to chapel and
Japanese culture. Music is an important part of the school’s tradition
as it has an orchestra, Taiko team,
and choir.
In Japan, a country where time is precious and being late is considered
rude, a typical school day kicks off
with a traditional fish-based dish, accompanied by rice. Students then
catch a train or two to school and
arrive before 8:30. At 8:45 lessons
begin and certain periods at Tamagawa are dedicated to chapel. Mabedi and Eric joined in with the lessons, but sometimes were whisked
away to take part in a tea ceremony
or to learn calligraphy and Japanese
cooking. Lunch then follows, where
Page 4
another fish dish with veggies and
rice is served. Lastly students have
two further lessons before school ends
at 3:15.
shop which made food out of wax
and at Harajuku, a famous shopping
area , they saw a woman dressed as
an ‘Anime’ character!
When there was no school, Mabedi
and Eric would explore the city of
glamour and chic that houses one of
the world’s largest fish markets, either
indulging in Japanese food or visiting
renowned places.
When it comes to Japanese food,
there is no beginning or end. Some of
the exotic foods tried by Eric and Mabedi include: Chikuzenni, a soup with
lotus, carrot, bamboo, and burdock
(a wild plant with prickly flowers);
Onigiri, seaweed balls with rice and a
stuffing of either vegetables or meat;
Umeboshi, dried salted plum; Taiyaki,
a fish shaped pancake stuffed with
sweet bean jam, and Takoyaki, a
round dumpling with fried octopus in
the middle.
First they visited the Tokyo tower, a
333 meter tall building that provides a
spectacular view of Tokyo. Then the
Kamakura. This is where the great
Buddha (Daibutsu) is set as a monumental outdoor bronze statue which
is one of the most famous icons in
Japan. So famous that Obama has
visited it!
Thanks to their generous hosts, they
even had the chance to visit Disney
land, Disney Sea and watch a Sumo
wrestling show. They visited intriguing
places such as the Cup Noodles Museum, dedicated to the famous instant snack. Here Eric and Mabedi
made their own noodles and created
flavours for them. At Kappabashi, a
famous street in Tokyo, they visited a
What an experience!
Mallika Senthil
TERM 1, ISSUE 1
MaP Valentines: Feel good Day
When I was a little girl,
somebody gave me a
beautifully
illustrated
book about ‘Little Grey
Rabbit’ and her friends,
who composed carefully
worded and elegantly
enigmatic, anonymous
Valentine’s
messages;
clues to where a Valentine’s gift might be hidden and found, and
from whom it might be
sent.
The little rabbits spent a
tittering day solving these
riddles, much to my African child bemusement,
and, truly,
that was
about the extent of my
enthrallment (or lack of
it) with Valentine’s Day
for most of my young
person’s life.
Not so at MaP.
At
Maru-a-Pula
we
spend a little fortune on
roses, chocolates, fluffy
teddies, and, for the first
time this year, special
cup cakes and limited
edition talking hearts. All
on sale from the SAC
and all a potential opportunity
to
make
someone’s day!
The wonderful surprise
for me has been the dis-
covery that very few
people at MaP send
cryptic, anonymous, Valentine’s messages. Most
gifts are openly acknowledged as tokens of
friendship between people who simply take the
time to say “You are my
friend. Thank you. “
the warmth by donating
P1600 to our Naledi and
Gabane Feeding Services, from the profits of
their Valentines’ sales.
This year’s SAC made an
amazing job of delivering
these “feel good” messages to hundreds of students. It is a tribute to
their diligence (and to
the mother of an SAC
member who donated
the cupcakes) that the
SAC were able to spread
Most gifts are openly
acknowledged as
tokens of friendship
between people who
simply take the time to
say “You are my friend.
Thank you. “
Isn’t this just so much
better than Little Grey
Rabbit’s cryptic efforts?
Editor
Science Day: Blood pressure, Volcanoes and You!
where students practised CPR
on a dummy and had the opportunity to have their blood
pressure tested by the school
nurse.
Tuesday March 8th was Science
Day at Maru-a-Pula. The theme
was “Health and Science”.
The day basically squeezed the
usual Science Week into Science Day, and our hats are off
to Ms. Merafe, Mr. Noble and
the rest of the Science teachers
for how much they managed to
cram into 24 hours!
The afternoon kicked off with a
well-attended First Aid focus
Form Threes followed with
presentations on substance
abuse. Thereafter there was a
quiz and a demonstration of
chemical reactions by Mr. Noble (the nutty professor?), who
entertained students with a volcanic eruption, a colour
change demonstrating oxygen
loss, and an explosion which
(sadly) failed to explode! Contaminated hydrogen peroxide is
believed to be the cause.
Science Day culminated on the
following day with an inspiring
talk about healthy eating by
Professor Kiran Bhagat. We
learned that there is as much
vitamin C in a marula as in an
orange, that we should ‘eat
local’, and be sure to get our
3+2 a day in order to escape
heart disease and other nasties
in our adult life. Prof. Bhagt explained about the worldwide
increase in obesity, the accompanying dangers to health and
the role of diet in preventing
these.
Don’t forget to get your 3 plus 2.
And keep off the chips and sodas. It’s about your health!
Kanono, Mallika and Editor
This is also about
your heart!
Page 5
Newsletter
Inter-house Sports
Everyone was hyped
up on Thursday January 24th. It was the start
of the long awaited
Inter-house field and
track competitions.
high jump, long jump,
javelin and discus, and
track events which consisted of 100m, 200m,
400m, 800m and 1500m
races.
The school field was
vibrantly colourful as
everyone was dressed
for the occasion in their
respective house colours.
The first day was for field
events and the 1500m
races, and K house was
leading with a total of
249 points by the end of
the day. By Saturday,
which marked the end of
both the field and track
events, team K had managed to scoop first place
with 633 points. J house
grabbed second place
The Inter-house competitions were aimed at
encouraging students
to identify their athletic
capabilities. There were
field events involving
with 583 points, L house
took third place with 535
points and M house
cruised into last position
with 515 points.
It seems that the school
was united through the
event and that some
students were pleasantly
surprised to discover
their athletic potential.
Setshego Phuti, who attained two gold medals
in the competitions, said ,
"I joined the races just for
exercise, but I discovered
I was extremely talented
at the long races, so
thank you, MaP, for this
opportunity to prove myself."
Kanono Lechuti
Fundraising For Galaletsang Basketball
Mr Bruce Nkala is heading a
Galaletsang Primary School sport
outreach program in which he
plans to help the young children
develop their sporting abilities. He
helps teach and improve the
children's skills in volleyball, kick
ball, soccer and netball.
The Maru-a-Pula basketball teams
are currently helping by mentoring the children. Mr Nkala states
that anyone can join and help
this project become a success.
New Chess King
He said he is particularly looking
for students from Form 3 upwards
so they can become mentors,
playing older brother and sister
figures.
Mr Nkala has so far managed to
buy hoops with assistance from
the Students’ Advisory Council. In
order to raise money for more
equipment, including balls, he
organised a civvies day fundraiser to coincide with the AFCON
Cup games. He is attempting to
Hot on the heels of Priyav Chandna, Maru-aPula has a new chess champion.
Abhiram Sasitharan, still only 13, came away
as the National Champion in the Under-18
Chess Championships in February this year.
His chess partner, Priyav Chanda, also 13,
finished 7th in the same competition.
Page 6
Well done to both! We will watch their future
contests with great expectations!
Editor
raise about P5000 for this
equipment. Through the civvies, we managed to collect
P250. This money will help to
start up basketball and athletics at Galaletsang
Primary
School.
Kanono Lechuti
Karate Khaya
Those of you who read the Daily News of
February 6th will know that Khaya Groth in 4K
is currently ranked 10th in the World Karate
Federation rankings for both Kata and Kumite, and that he has set his sights on being
ranked 4th.
Passion and dedication have led Khaya to
remarkable achievement in his sport. We
wish him success in his pursuit of his dream.
Editor
TERM 1, ISSUE 1
MaP Inter-house Gala
On the 1st of February, MaP students gathered in the swimming pool area and swimmers from J, K, L and M
houses participated in the Inter-house gala. It was a fun-filled and spirited afternoon, as many students
showed up to cheer on and support their house mates who were swimming. Maru-a-Pula students really do
have a lot of team spirit, and this always makes the sports events that take place so enjoyable.
M house came in in fourth place, with 288 points, J house came third with 322 points, L house came second with 340 points and K house took first place with 360 points.
Well done to all the participants!
Jameelah Wellio
AISJ Gala
On the 21st of February, the Maru-a-Pula swimming team travelled
to Johannesburg to take part in a friendly gala against several
schools: The American International School of Johannesburg
(AISJ), who were the hosts, as well as schools from Cape Town,
Mozambique, and as far afield as DRC.
Our most valuable male and female swimmers were Matthews
Rampart and Nancy Liu, who emerged victorious with the most
gold medals in the male and female categories. Overall, Maru-aPula achieved third place out of the six schools that participated.
It was a wonderful experience for most of our swimmers, and it has
motivated them to keep on training.
Naomi Clocks up
a Qualifying Time
Well done, MaP swimmers!
Our very own MaP student, Naomi Ruele (Form 5J) has
recently achieved something truly remarkable: beating the Youth Olympics qualifying time for 50 metres
backstroke!
During the Zone 6 African Youth Championships, Naomi clocked up the impressive time of 31.28 seconds,
the qualifying time for the Youth Olympics being 31.47
seconds. She also nearly qualified for the 50 metres
freestyle, with the time of 27.94 seconds (the qualifying
time being 27.61).
Jameelah Wellio
“I have been swimming since I was 9 years old; it’s just
one of those things I can’t let go of because I have
always wanted to achieve something out of it, which
would be having the opportunity to go to the Olympics,” she says.
Our hopes are all with you, Naomi!
Jameelah Wellio
Naomi has not yet officially made it into the Youth
Olympics, because the qualifying period starts on the
1st of April, and the qualifiers will be held in Nanjing,
China.
Naomi trains 9 times a week and is very passionate
about and dedicated to her swimming.
Breaking News: Well done to our athletes who defended their title for the third consecutive year
at the ISSSA Schools Competition and brought back a fistful of medals as well as the trophy!
Newsletter
AISJ Sports Trips
The 2013 U19 Girls and
Boys AISJ Basketball Tournament in February was
definitely one our teams
and coaches will remember for a while.
On the first day the matches were friendlies, but they
were not taken lightly!
Both the Girls and Boys
Teams played well. Although the girls lost their first
two matches, they really
stepped up in the last
game with some great
play and undeservingly
lost by one basket. The
boys sailed through the
friendlies,
winning
all
matches and making
them the favourites for
Day Two: the tournament!
On Day Two the girls’ first
game was bright and
early, although this didn’t put them off. They
played a great game
with some good set
moves, putting them
through to the next
round. Unfortunately, the
girls were knocked out in
their second game. This
did result in a rather
large cheering squad for
the boys’ games though!
The boys played very
well, beating teams
including
Crawford,
and making it to the
final against the home
team, AISJ. After a
game which was mostly
end-to-end (with lots of
cheering from us and
the other teams who
stayed
behind
to
watch) MaP was up by
3 points, with 30 seconds to go. As the whistle went, AISJ scored a
3 pointer, bringing them
back into the game.
After two three minute
extra times, the MaP
boys sadly lost by 1
point, the game ending
42-41.
Throughout this game
the boys played excellent basketball, putting in
110% effort. Although
they lost, they were recognised for their excellent
sportsmanship
throughout the tournament and so came
away not only with the
2nd place trophy, but
with the Sportsmanship
Award as well, voted by
all the coaches.
Well done to the boys
and the girls who took
part. All played excellent
basketball and were
great ambassadors for
Maru-a-Pula!
Joanna Clarke
Family Fun Day Coming Soon
Maru-a-Pula is taking community service to new
heights with its planned epic Family Fun Day on the
school premises on April 6th.
The aim is to raise funds for the services which MaP
students engage in, like Childline Service, where
money raised could help to buy new air conditioners
and maybe shade netting for the playground area,
to allow the children to play outside even on very
hot days.
For those who turn up on April 6th there will be a variety of foods on offer, including a halaal braai. Festivities will include 7-a-side football and basketball
half-court 3-on-3 tournaments. There will also be video games such as FIFA 2013.
The entrance fee will be P5.00 and food will be purchased by vouchers which will be sold at school dur-
Family Fun Day
6 April
Come and join us. Have fun
and help our service programme to help others.
ing the day. Barclays Build Service will have a car
wash for those who want their cars spruced while
they enjoy themselves and contribute to charity at
the same time. There will be a jumping castle,
popcorn, face painting and candy floss for the kids
to enjoy, and many more activities besides. But, of
course, people will have to come and see for
themselves!
Ms Caroline Desai, who is facilitating the project,
said, “Everyone should come and have fun, while
giving thought to services and what they need, so
that our service groups can contribute in the most
meaningful ways possible."
Kanono Lechuti
Dates for
your Diary
SHAKA ZULU
Inter-house Plays
9—11 April
Saturday 6 April
@ Maitisong