Students at Winchester High School, in Massachusetts, USA, enjoying the Madiba Legacy Series over bagels and coffee.
(Image: Winchester High School, Mass)From the USA to China, readers of the Madiba Legacy Comic Series have sent their thanks to the Foundation for the popular comics.
And they’re already enquiring about the next issue, the seventh in the eight-part series, which is scheduled for release later this month.
Ms Leandra Elion, a reading specialist teacher from Winchester, Massachusetts, USA, wrote: “My class read the comics as well as excerpts from Mr Mandela’s autobiography. They then took a ‘field trip’ to a coffee shop downtown where they met with their senior citizen buddies, who had also read the material.
“Everyone, from the high school students to the senior citizens, was so impressed by what they read. They realised just how much Mr Mandela had to suffer and how hard he fought for dignity. They were all very inspired by their readings …
“Reading the comic together with the autobiography really helped them ‘see’ the autobiography and approach their reading in a more confident way.”
Ms Kori Shlachter, from the Island Pacific Academy in Kapolei, Hawaii, wrote, “I think they are an amazing way to hook the students into learning. … Thank you so much! I can’t tell you how much this means to me and my students!”
Mrs June Walters, from Mariya uMama weThemba Monastery Afterschool in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, said she was thrilled to receive the comics. “They came just in time for me to give to my pupils who had to complete an assessment on the life of Nelson Mandela for their Grade 4 project,” she wrote.
Some thank-you notes are a challenge to read, says Mrs Boniswa Nyati, an information resource officer at the Nelson Mandela Foundation. She once received a note from China, written in Chinese. “Fortunately, there were people who visited the Foundation from Japan, and they could read it to me,” she says.
The Foundation sends comic books to whoever asks for them, and has distributed more than 67 000 thus far. “I get requests from people all over the world,” says Mrs Nyati. The majority of international requests come from the USA and United Kingdom, but she can rattle off country names from Germany to Nigeria, India to New Zealand.
For Mrs Nyati, the thank-you notes are affirming. “I can see that a lot of kids will be able to know more about our leaders’ lives,” she says.
“We are fulfilling our goal as the Foundation and the Centre of Memory and Dialogue.”
Madiba fans at Massachussetts' Winchester High School.
(Image: Winchester High School, Mass)
