A call to build on the successes of Mandela Day

A young boy is taken through one of the hundreds of books that were donated to the Itumeleng Children’s Shelter on Mandela Day

July 19, 2010 – On behalf of our Founder, Nelson Mandela, the trustees and staff of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, we would like to thank all members of the public for making Nelson Mandela International Day 2010 such a resounding success.

Mandela Day activities were undertaken by people from all walks of life, ranging from President Jacob Zuma in Mvezo and Morgan Freeman building a fence at an AIDS centre in Khayelitsha, to women’s associations preparing meals for the needy and schoolchildren donating bread and preparing sandwiches for a local soup kitchen. Other initiatives included those by provincial government staff, who spent time in child-headed households, those by organisations educating children about the dangers of drugs, and those by ordinary South Africans, who spent their 67 minutes tutoring disadvantaged communities or planting vegetable gardens.

Internationally, Mandela Day was marked by awareness-raising events in centres such as New York, Madrid and London, as well as untold numbers of people everywhere giving 67 minutes of their time to make the world a better place for all.

It was particularly gratifying to see the huge number of individuals who took the initiative and took the time to contribute to communities and charities in a meaningful way. This is, for us at the Foundation, the essence of Mandela Day. We will collate all of these efforts and publish a report within a few days.

We would like people to remember that every day should be a Mandela Day. Let the wonderful work that they have done with and within communities continue. Let everyone maintain ongoing relationships with the charities and organisations that they assisted.

For the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the Mandela Day campaign continues. Not only will we continue to work with organisations that we have assisted during the campaign, but the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, to be delivered by Ariel Dorfman on July 31 at the Linder Auditorium, will be another opportunity for us to highlight Mr Mandela’s legacy and the Foundation’s work in memory and justice.