St. Mary Magdalene's High School Nyanga

So what's next?

2009-10-31T14:35:00.000-07:00

So what's next?

That much I am not sure of. It usually takes longer to come up with an idea than to actually implement it (at least that's me!) The easiest alternative is to just resurrect the site even with the minimal content and just let it run at least until I am unable to sustain its operation. That is a tempting idea because it would be the easiest one.

Another idea which came from my talking to friends (which we tried implementing a long time ago) would be to just go full swing into doing alumni related projects that helps the school. Think scholarships, raising donor funds for projects etc! Yes it is an ambitious project and will be very difficult. If it was easy someone would have already done it! With former student spanning the globe, it can be done if we put our minds together. The scope of such a project, of course, would take a very different organization.

The other idea is the one that I have not thought about!

Why suspend the site?

2009-10-31T14:23:00.000-07:00

So why close/suspend magdahigh.com?

As of last count, the site had almost 300 registered members. In the age before facebook, usage was high. But as social networking became popular, site usage died down. In addition, the framework on which the site was build on made a huge and sudden change in architecture. Because of this, it became difficult to smoothly move the site to the new architecture. The safest and best approach was to just start afresh which would make importing the user generated data very difficult. The decision of closing/suspending the site could have been made several months ago but I just decided to leave it until some software licenses expire at the beginning of November.

So what's next?

The Story of MagdaHigh.com

2009-10-31T12:18:00.000-07:00

Almost 5 years ago, well before social networking was popular, I embarked on a project with the aim of linking former and current students of St. Mary Magdalene's High School, Nyanga. The idea was born out of several discussions with close friends in which the question “Where is {insert name here}” was always difficult to answer.

At that time, the only easiest way to track old friends was through zimupdate (remember that site) which was not always easy. It was around that time that I registered the magdahigh.com domain name and decided to do something about it. Because of school and work combined with procrastination, the domain name left unused for several months. As luck would have it, my schedule freed up and around that time I discovered a much easier and cheaper way to create a sort-of social networking site to accomplish the “linking of former and current students.”

I do not remember when the site went live but I was encouraged that several people signed up in the very few weeks and I can tell you it was rewarding to get an e-mail from someone showing appreciation for linking them with lost friends. Because of my brief involvement in maintaining the old official Magda site, I had saved several pictures which I uploaded to the site and it always brought back memories to go through the pictures. I will not go through the hard or bad experiences in detail but as the community grew, so was the need for hosting space, bandwidth and managing the user accounts. I got help from friends as far as managing users is concerned. The rest I had to squeeze in my student's budget. It was worth every penny!

So why close/suspend magdahigh.com?

Nyanga

2009-10-30T15:17:00.000-07:00

The small village of Nyanga is located in the Eastern Highlands about 100km north of Mutare. The highest mountain in Zimbabwe, Mount Inyangani lies about 15km from the village. It's highest peak rises to 2,600m above sea level. Nyanga is a popular tourist destination with its trout fishing, golf courses, mountain hikes and holiday resorts. Nyanga also accomodates the highest waterfalls in the country - Mtarazi Falls are about 760m tall. The surrounds also contain many Stone and Iron Age archaeological remains such as pit structures, stone forts, terraces and pathways.

North of Nyanga town the tarred road ends. The road meanders along the mountain range until it diverges at various points. After Sedze township one comes upon various schools and resettlement villages. Turning left one can reach Mapako and then comes upon Nyatate, one of the larger growth points in the area. Back to the main road, further up are Tendanayi primary and then St. Mary Magdalenes. Next major stop is Dumba, iin the Nyautare area. Continuing on, one can travel to Harare via Murehwa by this road, passing through the now abandoned Nyamombe refugee camp.

Further North, the range ends, there lies Ruangwe and Avila mission, here is Emmanuel High School. This road curves back up behind the moutain range and leads back to the tar, towards Nyamaropa and Troutbeck Inn. Then back to Nyanga. Some of these place names will be largely unfamiliar to tourists and not often shown on maps. Yet such rural areas are where the majority of Zimbabweans have grown up and still call home. Some parts are resettlement areas, and were formally white-owned.

About St Mary Magdalene's High School

2009-10-29T15:20:00.000-07:00

THE SCHOOL MOTIF

St. Mary Magdalene's High School has a proud history, which spans over the past fifty years, including its function as a boarding primary school. That tradition includes Excellency in academic achievement as well as a strong and upright character distinguished by our school motto IN VERITATE LIBERTAS.

Interpreted or translated as in truth there is freedom = Chokwadi chichakusunungura.

TRUTH: (veritas, veritate) here, is accuracy, fidelity, correctness, exactness, exactitude, or verity.

FREEDOM: (libertas) here is similar in meaning to liberty, latitude, leeway, autonomy, independence, or more clearly; the state of not being in confinement or servitude.

Learn truthfully that the school will free you from the domain of ignorance. As a member of St. Mary Magdalene's family you have the obligation to carry on, and even develop this tradition.

1. The big baobab tree symbolizes the school's willingness to nature and allow its students to grow, into big people, who are the truthful and free from the shackles of ignorance.

2. The river, represents water from which we derive livelihood as it comes from the mountains fed from the skies (clouds) above them is the Mount Muozi range. From God we derive and expect blessings. Calm, tranquility, harmony, or peace that go together with freedom.

3. The cross symbolizes the mission (church) status of the institution, which we are all aware of. God provided and shall continue to provide as a guide to the future.

4. The book, if read or studied carefully, will cultivate in you the love for truth from which you will derive freedom.

5. Note that the school's house colours form the school motif

6. The outline crest distinguishes us from the rest of other similar institutions for our intended outstanding achievements. So together we should cherish the will the school as shown by the base of the motif carrying the school colours that guide us, proudly displaying IN VERITATE LIBERTAS.

WHAT THE SCHOOL STANDS FOR

This school has clear objectives in respect of the kind of student we wish to nurture. A student of St. Mary MagdaleneÃs High School must be a rounded person with high academic Excellency, full social adjustment and full physical development. To achieve this we expect you to work very hard in your studies, we expect you to take part in sporting activities, and we expect you to be involved in different clubs and societies on offer in the school. We should cherish discipline and commitment both developed through truthfulness. The values we should uphold include respect of elders, other pupils and property, good manners at all times, trust in other people, responsibility and loyalty to the school. You should also ensure that what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it are consistent with what the school stands for.

(This article was written by Mr. Dhlandhlara the former school headmaster. It originally appreared on the old school website. )

Contact

2009-10-26T15:25:00.000-07:00

Here is how you can contact the webmaster: