Tomorrow we have the day off.
I feel a bit guilty about this actually. School has barely commenced for the 3rd term, (to which I returned late,) and already we have an abbreviated week.
I will not be braaing! The housekeeper/chef par excellence has already decided the menu for a family gathering to celebrate Mrs Paterson (seniors) 83rd birthday. I am, of course, happy with the menu!
National holidays are strange days, often simply giving an extra time to gather breath before the next storm in our lives. I suspect that for many the purpose gets but a fleeting thought. However, Heritage Day every year has deep meaning for me.
The school will have seen me in my National Flag tie on Friday in celebration of the day.
I think in gratitude about my Scots heritage in particular, mixed with the deeper surety that I am an African.
The air in Gaborone this morning was like refreshing crystal….that reason for rising early in the African summer which only we Africans understand.
Travelling back from Botswana today I saw the great north west spaces and the circling of vultures high in the sky and was grateful that I have the privilege of breathing the African dust and watching the African sunrise.
We passed the sign post to Marikana and I silently prayed with gratitude for the wealth of the African earth, and for forgiveness for our greed and intolerance.
I wondered about ubuntu. The President has recently said this:
“Without respect and ubuntu, members of society become hooligans, We believe that all human beings are equal and important…that they must be respected by virtue of their humanity. Once we lose respect for one another and ubuntu, what type of society will we be?”
We are a school of incredible diversity of nationality. We represent a veritable league of nations. Our strength however, lies not primarily in our diversity, but in our unity.
Like our beloved country, the national motto “!ke e: /xarra //ke”, “diverse people unite” is applicable to all of us in our beloved school.
Heritage Day starts with the call to a common humanity and then a celebration of the diversity amongst us all. The gift of this diversity is futile and divisive, unless built on the proper foundation.
Enjoy the Day St Mary’s DSG!
Belonging, purpose and hope 