A Special Home

My full name is Thomas Aquinas Patrick Muyomba Zabuna Lukoma. I have as many names as I have homes. Though my family is from Uganda, I was born in Kenya and then moved to Botswana as a young boy, and then as a young man, I came to the US on a scholarship to the Taft School in Connecticut, attended Harvard University and have been in the northeast of the US for the past ten years.

So when someone asks me, "Where are you from?" I would say that I am from Maru-a-Pula because MaP is one of the places I think of as my home. Even though now I live 8,000 miles away, I live in MaP every day in my heart, in my mind, and in my spirit.

While I was a student both at Taft and Harvard, people often asked me:

• Where did you learn to paint like that? In Ms. Crouch and Mr. Dunmore's art classes where they taught us the color wheel, the importance of negative space and the power of composition in every piece of artwork.
• Where did you learn to command the stage like that? In Mr. Nebe and Ms. Baxter's plays where I learnt how to project my voice to a whole auditorium and use every single movement of my body meticulously to convey the moment.
• Where did you learn to structure problems so clearly and logically? In Mr. Thal's Maths classes and Mr. McKay's physics classes where they showed me the importance of grabbing a concept and extrapolating from it so that I could tackle any problem related to what I had learnt, regardless of whether I had seen it before or not.
• Where did you learn to shoot a basketball like that? From having the fear of God scared out of me with Mr. Gardener's booming voice and no nonsense coaching style.
• Where did you learn how to interact with so many different types of people so easily? To answer that one, I would have to describe my Form 1 home room class:

There was Barry Dunne, a redhead from Ireland, who wished deep down inside that he was a Motswana

There was Shike Olsen, whose mother was an ex-government official in the Botswana parliament and whose father was a British entrepreneur who had made Botswana his home

There was Katso Monageng, the class clown who would never admit that he was one of the smartest people in the class; one of the only people I know who could make you boiling mad and laugh hysterically at the same time

There was Portia Siwawa, a pint sized pocket of power, a top swimmer and sprinter, an amazing marimba player, a born leader and a friend for life

There was Ayngaran from India, my rival dating back to primary school days where we competed for the first place in class every year, neither one of us can hold anything over the other because we got exactly the same score for our O-levels, an 8

There was Jitske Ryken from Holland, the most beautiful girl my thirteen year old eyes had ever seen -- the furthest that romance ever went was a note on Valentine's day in her locker --but it was fun while it lasted

There was Boniface Ncube, who could speak several Southern African dialects, was a charmer with the girls and an amazing athlete

There was Sena Friesen, a wholesome Mennonite American girl who was sweeter than honey and smarter than anybody else in the class

There was Tasneem, Sena's best friend, a Muslim from South Africa who was the second smartest person in the class

There was the Nerd Pack, there was the Boarding House Boys, there was the Athletes, there were the goody-two-shoes, there were the Africans-Not-Of-Motswana-Descent like myself . . . you name it, we had it!

So it was a real surprise to me in my second semester at Harvard when somebody pointed out to me that most of my friends were WHITE JEWISH GUYS . . . I had never taken a moment to think about it . . . to me, they were just guys who I like to hang out with!

MAP gave me a sense of connection and ease with people that transcends race, social strata and cultural background. I am actually at most ease in situations where there is a diversity of people because that is what drives my creative juices.

I hope through this brief vignette, I have illustrated a MAP that equipped me perfectly to be excellent in a year at an exclusive prep school in Connecticut, four years at the top University in the world and in my ongoing career escapades.

If you don't remember my six names, please do remember this: Maru a Pula is more than just a name, more than just another charitable cause -- it is an enduring relationship with excellence and a home in the heart of every person who is touched in some way by the school.

Thomas Lukoma attended MaP from 1989 to 1992.