Maitisong Festival

Every March-April in Gaborone (since 1987) a performing arts festival, called the Maitisong Festival, takes place. This year the festival started in mid-March and runs into early April. It seems to rely heavily on national talent, though some regional and international acts may be brought in as well. The office and many of the shows are at Maru a Pula School, one of the secondary schools in Gaborone, where a hall was built for Maitisong more than two decades ago. Other performances are at other schools, the National Museum, Alliance Francaise, Gaborone Sun and various other venues. So far, we have enjoyed three of the shows. The first, Circus of Dreams, was produced by the Drama Department at Maru a Pula. It was a somewhat abstract show with a slightly morbid overtone, but many different acts that the kids and the audience really enjoyed, including song and dance, juggling, unicycling, and an amazing 'magic trick.' On Tuesday we ventured out on a school night to see a performance of the World Dance Academy, based here in Gaborone, and a tribute to Michael Jackson, again produced by the Maru a Pula students, that was quite stunning - both at Maitisong Hall at Maru a Pula. Last night we attended a Choir Festival, as part of Maitisong, at Thornhill. This show brought together choirs from several of the primary schools - and a very nice guest adult choir - Maikano Serenaders - for a very enjoyable evening. Mave and her friends were pressed into being ushers to help seat the hundreds of family members who came out for the festival.

Maru a Pula seems to be the Cab Calloway of Gaborone (in terms of arts, anyway), though it is not officially an arts school. It was founded in 1972 to serve as a model of non-racial education in southern Africa and today has about 600 day and boarding students. It has a progressive and holistic approach to education and a rich tradition of caring for the community. Unfortunately, Mave missed going there by one year as it begins with Form One (grade seven). It is reputed to be one of the premier academic institutions in Africa; indeed, my understanding is that it consistently has the best test scores among secondary schools in all of southern Africa! It seems like an incredible school.....