There was a memorial service for Mr. Sailas Mabonga at 1700 on Friday, 21 September at Maitisong. Thank you to all who showed up to celebrate the life of this magnificent human being.

Download the full program (.pdf) by clicking here.

From Mr. Alan Wilson, member of Maru-a-Pula community since 1975, read on the occasion of Mr. Mabonga's funeral in Zimbabwe on 8 September 2007:

For almost nine years, Maru-a-Pula was blessed to count Sailas Mabonga as a member of its teaching staff. But it was as long ago as 1993 that his exceptional ability as a sports coach first brought him to the school’s attention. In that year he started building Maru-a-Pula’s 14-year-long reign as schools’ basketball champions in Botswana. In the annals of the nation’s sport, this is surely something without precedent at any level and at any time.

We celebrate his magnificent achievement in this field first, for basketball was his passion.

To meet Sailas on campus, though, was much more than to meet the country’s top basketball coach. Rather, here was a man, a father-figure, who, if he lacked physical height, more than made up for it in presence and personality.

He was a commanding presence, calm and in control, and his aura reflected the high regard in which he was held.

For hundreds of boy boarders at Maru-a-Pula over those nine years, Mabee as he was known, was their deeply respected leader and parent-away-from-home. He drew an indelible line between right and wrong. He taught his boys strength of character and self-belief, he gloried in their achievements, and, by no means least, he provided security for the young, the vulnerable and the weak. He was convinced as to the role of his boys at the heart of the school.

For other hundreds, of girls as well as boys, he was their mentor in physical education, utterly dedicated to developing healthy bodies as vessels for healthy minds. For others again, he was the history teacher who had proved his academic worth in 2001 by attaining a Masters Degree in Education through the University of Bath in the U.K. Sailas’s lesser qualifications – his certificates and diplomas – are simply too numerous to mention.

And then there were those of us on the staff for whom Sailas was, quite simply, that most precious thing - a dear friend, shamwari yedu. With us he would often drop his guard, joke and enjoy a joke, that distinctive laugh of his always somewhere close to the heart of the fun. Alongside this, he was the tireless organizer, the deep thinker, the articulate and loyal campaigner who championed causes he believed in and never hurt anybody in the process. Our abiding memory of Sailas will be of a profoundly private man, sensitive and tolerant, with deep reservoirs of faith, courage and strength.

Sailas Mabonga, our brother and shamwari, our father and teacher. While we grieve along with his family, we celebrate and give thanks for his life. May his spirit continue to flourish among us all.

‘A mowa wa gagwe o robale ka kagiso.’