This week Mpilonhle Academy is playing their 3rd official match. The opponents will be Masibonisane Educators. They have more than 50 educators at Masibonisane and around 1700 learners. This makes this game probably the biggest game this year. Around 25 male educators.
Why this is the best thing since sliced bread?
1. I used to play for this Masibonisane educators team. I know how much it means to them to beat us. They also know how deadly I can be in front of goals.
2. We might be wearing our brand new Mpilonhle jerseys kit for this game. This will serve as an inspiration to the whole team.
3. The celebration party/braai after the game. This is tradition after every match win/loss you must have a small braai/party amongst the players.
My Motivation to the team members:
I will donate R300 towards the celebration party from my own pocket if we win this game. Can anyone match or better my donation?
We can turn Masibonisane into Our Daily Bread!!!
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on July 20, 2009 at 6:03 am.
Tags: General —
“He was my hero.” It was a simple message on a placard outside Michael Jackson’s home. It got me thinking: “What is a hero and was Jackson one?”
So, for a start, I went to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary for a definition. It was split into three parts:
1. A name given to men of superhuman strength, courage, or ability favoured by the gods.
2. One who does brave and noble deeds; an illustrious warrior.
3. A man who exhibits extraordinary bravery, firmness, or greatness of soul, in connection with any pursuit, work or enterprise.
Before answering the question of Jackson’s credentials, I think it is worthwhile looking back in history at examples. Achilles was the Greek hero of Homer’s “Iliad”. He killed Hector in the Trojan War and was himself killed by Paris who shot a poisoned arrow into his vulnerable heel. That is according to the Hutchinson Encyclopaedia.
Aeneas, on the other hand, was the Roman hero of the epic poem by Virgil entitled unsurprisingly “The Aeneid”. He wandered around the Mediterranean, fell in love with Dido, Queen of Carthage, before founding the Roman State. Both these men were favoured by the gods and fell within the first definition.
In their own way, they set the example for the second definition which covers both warriors and intrepid explorers. Consider England’s national heroes. Boadicea was a British Queen who resisted the Romans (despite the definition women also qualify); Arthur and his knights of the Round Table repelled pagan Saxon invaders; Henry the Fifth defeated the French at Agincourt in 1415; Horatio Nelson (the greatest of them all) defeated the combined French and Spanish Fleet at Trafalgar in 1805; Winston Churchill led the nation during the Second World War; and explorers included Livingstone, Scott of the Antarctic (even though he didn’t get to the South Pole first) and Shackleton.
The third definition covers a much wider range of people. Great statesmen such as early American presidents like Washington and Lincoln and latterly John Kennedy qualify. Our own Nelson Mandela is right up there with Ghandi. Great names in literature such as Shakespeare and Tolstoy, in art Leonardo da Vinci, in science Einstein, in music Beethoven are all in the hero class. Sport would feature Pele (soccer), Bradman (cricket) and Mohammed Ali (boxing). Good deeds would produce candidates like Florence Nightingale, Mother Theresa and Princess Diana.
Now comes the crunch. If Michael Jackson qualifies, it’s in the third category for greatness of soul in connection with his pursuit. You might want to rule him out for his morals. But Admiral Nelson had an affair with the famous courtesan of the times, Emma Hamilton. Kennedy hooked up with Marilyn Monroe and many others. Still, you might say, Jackson’s relationship with children put him in a different league.
In terms of his music, he has to be up there with the likes of Presley, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Madonna. Thriller for me was a knockout album and who can forget the video that accompanied the title track? He undoubtedly brought a huge amount of joy into the lives of millions of fans around the world. In addition, he broke down the barriers for black artists in the United States.
Nevertheless, I cannot bring myself to call him a hero. Celebrity icon yes, hero no. It is very much a personal decision so I would not dispute the authenticity of the message on the placard. He or she is entitled to that opinion, I am entitled to mine.
As for South African heroes, I would put Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Chris Barnard and Doctor Khumalo at the top of my list. Whom would you name?
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on July 2, 2009 at 5:20 am.
Tags: General —
There are a couple of world events taking place at the moment. In England it is the ICC World Twenty20 and here in South Africa the British Lions are on tour. Yesterday was probably the greatest day in SA sport as it was the opening of the FIFA Confederations Cup.
The unfortunate part was that our team could not open with a win. We hope the team can do much better in their next game. The Proteas in England are doing well though. They are still unbeaten and have qualified for the semi-finals.
I also got a chance to watch a DVD called Alicia in Africa. Its a documentary of the work Alicia Keys is doing in Africa. We are so lucky to have people like her committed to doing great things for the people in this continent. The touching story for was about this young 16 year old boy in Kenya who was born HIV Positive. He only started taking ARV when he was about 13 years old, basically he never stood a chance
Alicia Keys
. There is still a shortage of these drugs in Africa.
We hope more people like Alicia Keys can get involved in the fight against HIV.
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on June 15, 2009 at 12:57 am.
Tags: General, Health Education —
On Friday the Mpilonhle FC played its first official match. It was a very difficult away game. The good thing was that our host were very welcoming. Slethukukhanya is such a well run school its amazing. Our Mayor Mthombeni helped in getting rid of all the pre-match nerves by telling jokes earlier in the day. He also helped lift the mood after the news about Lucas Radebe not being well. I would like to wish him a speedy recovery.
We had been preparing for this game the past 8-9 days. Unfortunately we lost by 1 goal to nil on the day. We played 2 practice matches during the week to fine tune our skills before the game.
Losing is never a good feeling especially if you have a group of winners as a team. The team was made up of Bheki, Sbusiso, Mbhekeni, Sakho, Sphakahle, me, Anele, Nkosinathi, Thokozani and 2 additional players.
A lot of the people have said we did well as this was our first game as a team. I do not think so. We had enough chances in the game to score and win. I just felt before the game our minds had been distracted by other events I cannot mention here.
I have received a number of invitations from people who would like to test their football skills against us. A few schools even the Police force have shown interest. We need all the support we can get even if you don’t like football or you have never played the game Mpilonhle FC needs you. Come to our next practice. Teasing us or saying we are wasting our time is NOT supporting. Playing football or any sport is taxing on the body we need energy drinks or even a pack of oranges(anything) hopefully someone will remember that next time. This is a football team NOT chess players.
I would like to thank the Management and everyone who supported us and made the launch on Friday a success.
Hopefully this was not the last time we see Mpilonhle FC in action. Keep supporting guyz.
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on May 10, 2009 at 7:24 am.
Tags: General, Information Technology —
Everyone is back from the Easter weekend. They are looking relaxed and refreshed. We needed the few days off by the look of things. I was home for the Easters although I never got a chance to attend any church services. I was there in spirit.
The bad news is the national strike by the road freight industry. This has seen around 300 petrol stations run dry this week. Diesel car drivers have become high priority as diesel fuel is still available in most stations. The petrol situation and the poor performance of the Sharks meant a bad weekend for most of us.
Unit News
This week the schools are re-opening for the second term. This means we all go back to giving service to the learners. My unit is going to Nkosibonga this week. This is good as we have not been there since the floods in January. Chances are its gonna start raining again! The community does not need a rain dance with us around.
Thats all from me this week.
Some of the angry protesters.
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on April 14, 2009 at 8:34 am.
Tags: General —
What a day it was. The best day I have had this year. It all started on Tuesday afternoon when we got confirmation that she had indeed arrived. The next stop was straight to the nearest hair salon for most of the Mpilonhle staff. Hairstylists in Mtuba must have made a good profit that afternoon.
Wednesday morning everyone looked so beautiful and arrived early for work. At around 6h45 nearly everyone was at the office even the people that normally come later were there . No one dared come late on this special day. It seems as if half of Mtuba knew that she was coming to Mpilonhle excerpt us! Charlize Theron is such a humble lady. We are at Nkodibe High School this week. She arrived at about 11h30 am and joined the IT class I was conducting at the time. Easily the most beautiful computer/assistant I have ever had. Those few minutes will stay with me forever. Those grade 8 learners were so lucky to meet her. They could not stop smiling. I tried to keep calm but I just could not believe it was really happening.
The unfortunate part was that she did not meet with the rest of team members in my unit in their different workstations. Most of the learners at the school also did not see her. They had also prepared some perfomances but did not get a chance. All they saw were cars moving in to the school & cars moving out. The teachers also did not get their chance to talk to her as she was whisked away. I did explain though that she had to see other sites as well.
I was hoping to include some pictures of her with the staff but sadly was instructed not to take even 1 picture of her. She brought the whole staff presents and free hugs.
All in all a job well done by the organisers and Gugu Zulu did a brilliant job throughout. Well done we need more people with so much enthusiasm for their job.
Next week : Community.
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on March 26, 2009 at 5:15 am.
Tags: General, Information Technology —
This week we were meant to go to Nkosibonga but due to the floods we were unable to. As a result we have now switched to a community. It is the first time we have visited this community of Hluhluwe. The site is at a primary school. The learners were so excited to see a landrover arrive at their school yesterday.
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on March 10, 2009 at 8:45 am.
Tags: General, Information Technology —
Computer class
Over the past 12 weeks or so we have been going out to the community of this District. We have brought computer knowledge to places that have never even seen a computer before. Places like Bukimvelo, Khiphinkunzi Dilikhulu, Bethangwe etc. The turnout for the computer classes have been great. My observation though has been that more women have attended computer classes then the men. A lot more. Why is that? Some have said most men in the rural areas are working in big cities that’s why women come for computers. But when you look at unemployment figures that is no longer the case. Is it because computers just do not appeal to men? There must be another reason. Why?
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on December 5, 2008 at 3:06 am.
Tags: General, Information Technology —
Last week was a blessed week indeed. Our unit(Ogalakajani) was working from Nkodibe. The priest was kind enough to let us use the church house as a computer lab. This was great for me as I have not been to church in a very long time.
This week we are working from a new school(Phiwamandla). The learners & educators have been welcoming. They have shown a great interest in all of our services even though we are there for the surrounding community. Hopefully things will go smoothly the whole week.
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on November 10, 2008 at 8:37 am.
Tags: General —
I just realised that it’s getting hotter and hotter every day.Now what do we do with that,nothing,I guess because the number of people in need of our services increases everyday so heat or no heat,a job is a job,we continue to make a difference in those people’s lives.
Posted by Sibahle Nzimande on October 30, 2008 at 7:35 am.
Tags: General, Uncategorized —
