28 July, 2011 – The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and Life College today announced a new programme Nelson Mandela – The Champion Within, with which they aim to reach 1-million youth by 2020, inspiring them to live Mr Mandela’s legacy and to make everyday a Mandela Day.
Achmat Dangor, Chief Executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation said that in 2004 Mr Mandela, by agreement of the Trustees, inaugurated the Centre of Memory to host his personal archives. “The aim of the Centre is to make the life and times of Nelson Mandela available to the rest of the world.”
This partnership is therefore a means of sharing South Africa’s history and legacy with our youth – our partners into the future – in a new way, Dangor said.
Pat Pillai, the founder and CEO of the Life College Group, described Nelson Mandela’s book Conversations with Myself as the spark that brought the two parties together.
Reading from the book, Pillai quoted from a letter Mr Mandela wrote to his wife Winnie Mandela in Kroonstad Prison on Feb 1, 1975 to demonstrate how Mr Mandela characterised introspection as crucial in a person’s development.
“The cell is an ideal place to learn to know yourself, to search realistically and regularly the process of your own mind and feelings … But internal factors may be even more crucial in assessing one’s development as a human being.
“Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others – qualities which are within easy reach of every soul,” wrote Mr Mandela.
Nelson Mandela – The Champion Within will strive to help each young person discover their internal champion to help them be of true service to themselves and others, he said.
Pillai announced the partners who had already committed to the programme as the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University; the University of Cape Town; Citadel investment manager; the National Research Foundation and the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
Members of the public later engaged in a question and answer session with the panelists
Programme Pioneers from civil society and business include Santi Botha, Pregs Govender, Dr Reuel Khoza, Wendy Lucas-Bull, Jabu Mabuza, Joel Netshitenzhe and Doug Smollan.
“We have an opportunity here to fundamentally connect with one million youth, who can grow a nation of champions fuelled by a principle-centered mentality inspired by Mr Mandela,” he said.
Living Nelson Mandela’s legacy
“Young people are as important as any dignitaries that have been in this room,” said Verne Harris, the Head of the Memory Programme at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory.
He described Mr Mandela’s legacy as one which is constantly reinterpreted by new generations. As such, the archive lives in the hands of the youth.
Let’s hear it from the youth
Xolile Ndlovu, 23, is a third year student at the University of the Witwatersrand and a student at Life College. She recalled a Life College team’s mission to climb Mount Kilimanjaro when altitude sickness stopped her from summiting. The experience taught her about leading from behind. “My team made it up, so I made it up,” she said.
Nkosikazi Nobubele Mandela talks with Pat Pillai
“I ask myself – how will Madiba think and act – and it inspires me to make better choices.”
Beejal Govan, “22-years young”, has been a student at Life College for 13 years. She has realised her dream of becoming a pilot. She said Life College equipped her with coping skills that have helped her to create opportunities in her life. “If one million youth do the same, we can have an enormous impact on South Africa and the world,” she says.
Jemaine Swartz, 22, a student of Life College for nine years, said: “Over time, with the proper mindset and character you can overcome any challenge. Challenges will never go away, it’s the way we live our lives daily that determines how we live in the future. We can always think and do like Madiba,” he said.