Reporting by Tendai The Inspiring Story Of Mozambique's First Professional Surfer See our video interview with Mini here. Sung Min Cho is a Korean-Moambican surfer who is currently making history in the world of surfing. Born in September 1999, Sung Min Cho also known as Mini calls Tofo Beach home. He began surfing at the age of 13 which was quite old considering that most surfers in the town begin from a young age. Growing up with insufficient money to afford boards, he was gifted a “5,8 neon yellow wedge” from tourists who spotted him on the beach of Tofo which is not an ideal board for learning. He is now a professional surfer with large sponsorships including O’Neil and Dryrobe. After surfing for three years, at the age of sixteen, he realized how surfing could be something he would want to do professionally for a living. He proceeded to get into some research and soon discovered that there had never been a Mozambican professional surfer and that was the moment he decided he wanted to make history. From the first time he stood up on his board, he found himself becoming a surfing fanatic. He began traveling to Durban often for surfing training and while there he would volunteer for an organization named Surfers Not Street Children. As he became close with the founder Tom Hewitt he developed a passion for helping develop the African surfing community. As the charity grew, Tom decided to branch out into Mozambique and knew that Mini would be the perfect partner for this project. Tom Hewitt said in an interview: “As we grew our program to cover Mozambique, I knew Mini was the natural partner. He’s inspirational in his own right, dedicated to surfing, and super compassionate to the children in Tofo.” ( Conway, Simply Surf, pg5, 23). This branch of Surfer Not Street Children is now commonly known as the Tofo Surf Club. The club is a place where children from anywhere around the area of Tofo Beach can go and get provided with free surf lessons. There is only one requirement to join the club: to go to school. Not only is Mini growing the surfing community, but also helping children find the drive to get a higher education. If children are not able to go to school, the club will provide small lessons at the club or even help pay school fees for those who cannot afford it. I know that many of you have visited Tofo Beach or have heard of it but this is only one of the many surfing gems of Mozambique. With the fourth longest coast in Africa, Mini sees tons of potential for the surfing community. He realized that nobody in the surfing community saw what he did. Mini recently filmed a documentary called Chasing The Unicorn, with Monster Energy, about the Mozambican surf story and life. World-renowned surfers were featured and were surfing the beautiful waves of Mozambique in this film reveling in how much potential this amazing coast has. While Tofo may appear to be a sacred, unknown surf spot, there is a growing interest in surf tourism in the area. According to Mini, surf tourism can provide local businesses with a steady income throughout the year, as opposed to relying on a seasonal influx of tourists. Despite the potential benefits of surf tourism, Tofo's unique culture and identity must be preserved and protected from gentrification. As the home of Mozambique's first professional surfer and a place of great cultural significance, Tofo's charm and culture should not be compromised by commercialization. Mini’s story is just the start of the Mozambican surf world and a great example of how dreams can develop and be achieved in great ways from very humble beginnings. See our video interview with Mini here.
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Reporting by Felix At the start of the season, our Model United Nations Team welcomed new leadership, marking the end of an era & the start of a new one. With the start of the new MUN season, all eyes are on Vihaan and Felix - HS and MS MUN Presidents respectively) - and new Vice Presidents Margulan (HS) and Samuel (MS). The Leadership team was chosen after a multitude of rousing speeches and fruitful debate, with experience winning the day for these candidates. They quickly demonstrated their value to the club this week by organising a well-structured session where participants got into teams and took on the role of countries such as France, Iran and South Africa to discuss issues ranging from the need to preserve endangered languages to the looming possibility of space colonisation. The session was organised to help 10 of our students to prepare for their participation at JOMUN, the Model United Nations Conference held at the American International School of Johannesburg Sept 28-30. Rest assured that our reporters will be there on site to keep you posted on their progress. With new beginnings comes fond farewells and one such moment came in the final goodbye for outgoing President Abigail. Abi gave an emotional speech and the club can only thank her for bringing real energy and critical thinking to the role over the past year. Thank you Abi! And good luck to Felix, Vihaan, Margo and Sam. To enquire more about Model UN, students are advised to contact one of the team. The MUN Club ASA runs on Thursdays after school in MP2. Reporting by Alexandre After a long summer break, the varsity volleyball teams were seeking to prove themselves in Saturday’s practice game. Coaches and players alike were excited to see how their commitment to practice and preparation would pay off on the court. It was evident to Coach Jeannet that the process itself is just as important as the outcome, as she pointed out "It’s the process that matters. It’s not just about learning about volleyball; it’s about being in the game and gaining that experience that will be useful later on." Coach Kristen expressed the same passion and highlighted the value of evaluating the team's performance. "It’s exciting to have such accurate reflections on our team,” she mentioned “and to be able to experiment with what works and what doesn’t." More than merely a friendly scrimmage, this game provided an opportunity to adjust tactics and identify strengths and flaws that will influence the upcoming season. Coach Chefe gave the players a sense of direction by outlining specific objectives for the weekend. "Our goal for this Saturday is not only to win but to test ourselves and focus on and figure out the things we need to work on in the future." Winning was a very significant part of the game, but the opportunity to improve their abilities and get ready for the difficulties ahead was just as important. Lots of training sessions targeted at sharpening their abilities had been put into the preparation. Coach Chefe was sure that the team was well equipped, stating that "In general, I think the boys are prepared for the game and have had more than enough training to excel at it." The Saturday practise match developed into a ferocious fight and struggle for points that went beyond mere overglorified hitting lines. The guys displayed their unshakable toughness and dedication by working valiantly throughout five demanding sets. They were tested to their utmost in the game, yet they rose to every challenge that stood in their way. The group's enthusiasm was unwavering throughout the entire game, right up until the very finish. The audience could sense the intense intensity in the air as well, and it was clear that every victory had been fiercely fought for and celebrated. As they scored significant points, the team's dedication stood out. They were able to utilize their opponents' errors wisely, despite the fact that the inaccuracy in their serves showed to be an enormous challenge throughout the entirety of the match. Although there was space for improvement in this area of their game, their strong spirit propelled them to win, ultimately setting the stage for a season that was all about development and improvement. The entire squad was moved by Coach Chefe's words as he thought back on their notable journey. "At this stage, I wasn't expecting much from the team, but we put almost all of our effort into it, and we got results in the end."
This quote captured the heart of their valiant win and became a tribute to the group's perseverance and commitment, which had led them to victory. With their unrelenting dedication, the squad was ready to surpass expectations in order to make the coming year one to remember. It was a glorious start, and you can follow our Buffaloes journeys through the AISM sports Instagram page. Reporting by Alex and Gaia The AISM community predicts another South African win at this year’s Rugby World Cup in France. The Rugby World Cup kicks off in Paris tonight and we asked AISM staff and students what their predictions were for who would take the William Webb Ellis Cup. 32% went for our neighbors South Africa, with the next placed team being England at 16% of the votes. Is this simply bias given our community’s demographics or are current holders the Springboks a logical choice for retaining their trophy? “SA destroyed New Zealand recently and that gives me the feeling that we are hitting form at the right time”, says G12 student Daniel. It’s difficult to argue with that when you watch the highlights of the recent demolition job of international rugby giants New Zealand, where the Springboks ran out 35-7 winners. Mr Nick agrees with Daniel’s assessment, saying that SA " have an amazing pack, plus buckets of speed and power".
We will find out over the next 7 weeks whether our predictions were spot on or whether other favourites like New Zealand, Ireland and France, or even Australia, England or Argentina will take the glory. The tournament starts tonight at 21:15 with a huge game: hosts France v New Zealand. Tune in and keep up to date with all the latest fixtures and info at the official Rugby World Cup site. Reporting by Ashton and Connie Grade 8 students got to grips with intertextuality as they produced creative interpretations of Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. As part of a unit called Why Shakespeare? developed by Mr. Nick and Mr. Rui, students explored the play Macbeth. They discussed and analysed the written play and the movie, while additionally answering the question of whether or not international students in 2023 should be studying this kind of “classic” literature. Macbeth is a story about a brave warrior that receives information about his fate from witches. He essentially uses that information to form his own fate, causing chaos for himself, and others around him. Students were asked to produce an intertextual piece that conveys a deep understanding of the play, meaning an interconnection between 2 or more texts that are creatively interpreted. “My aim with this intertextual project was to give everyone the freedom to explore and any prompt from the play that intrigued them and to take it wherever they wanted to take it” said Mr Rui. “We should celebrate our individual interpretations and have the space, freedom and validation to explore them and express them. That's what education should be about in my view.” The G8 learners certainly made the most of this space and produced various remixes of the Macbeth story, such as:
The variety of student products was a sight to behold and made for a compelling series of presentations. It turned out that most students were turned on to Shakespeare’s 400 year old story. “We got to gain another, deeper level of understanding of Macbeth and Shakespeare's writing”, said one of the students, Laia. “It’s the stories that count.” Grade 6 students kicked off their Advisory programme in secondary school this year by researching the people they look up to and how they’ve employed ATL skills to do great things in real life. Reporting by Mr Rui Self-management, thinking, communication, social, and research skills. Lofty targets indeed, but sometimes ones that take a back seat to all the busy subject work students have to do. It’s easy to feel that they are just another thing to add to everyone’s already overflowing plates. So G6 advisors decided to shake things up this year and bring the ATLS to life beyond our everyday academic routines. Each student was asked to nominate a role model; someone who inspires them not just with their achievements, but also with their mentality and approach to life. Miss Cindy and Mr Rui gave the example of the iconic boxer, activist and poet Muhammad Ali and students then came up with their own varied list of role models from Cristiano Ronaldo and Galileo to Coco Chanel and Sachin Tendulkar. Over the course of several Advisory sessions, the learners researched how each of their figures used ATL skills in powerful and sometimes not so obvious ways to achieve success in their fields. Elsa considered, for example, how the writer Barbara Dee needed to have effective communication skills to liaise with editors, publishers and the like, whilst singer Olivia Rodrigo (Gabi’s choice of role model) also needed to communicate with bandmates, managers, sound engineers etc. despite being a solo artist. The next stage was to turn this research into posters to showcase at a G6 poster gallery, an uplifting event that really got everyone thinking about the common ground among all of these diverse people. “The most rewarding aspect of this mini project for me”, said Mr Rui, “was the way we were able to link people that on the face of it might have seemed completely disconnected in terms of what they do. This worked out for us to consider how these are foundational aptitudes and behaviours that can lead to success and wellbeing in life generally.” The short video above gives a short glimpse of what the project was about and includes interviews with students commenting on what they learned. “Steph Curry was my chosen person,” said Gonçalo. “He got rejected by many schools, but now he’s very successful and he still trains a lot.” And the last words go to Ama, who opted for Bethany Hamilton - a surfer who survived a terrible shark attack - and learned that “even though she has great difficulties, she shows us that anything is possible”. |
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