April 24 , 2008

IN BINGHAM AUDITORIUM

These young musicians from Botswana wanted to find a way to be "instrumental" in the lives of AIDS orphans in their country. So they embarked on a US tour to raise awareness and funds for their school's "bursary." Maru-a-Pula School in Gaborone already provides a full bursary or scholarship to 20 AIDS orphans, a dramatic increase from just two in 2005, and they are hoping to fund 60 orphan scholarships by 2010.

But the trip got off to a rocky start when they were forced to leave their instruments behind at the airport. The tale of their search for African marimbas in the US even made the news (watch the CBS clip).

Taft has invited a Maru-a-Pula student to spend a post-graduate year here for decades. The tie between the two schools is only stronger now that Andrew Taylor '72 is the school's principal. Founded in 1972 to serve as a model of non-racial education in southern Africa, Maru-a-Pula is a coed, independent day & boarding secondary school which has gained a reputation as one of Africa's premier academic institutions.

Unlike many international schools, Maru-a-Pula deliberately enrolls a high percentage of local citizens: more than half the students are Batswana. Maru-a-Pula has a School Council that is ultimately responsible for the general policy and financial management of the School.

Read more about their US tour in a Boston Globe article.

photographs by Yee-Fun Yin