FILE PICTURE: Nelson Mandela. Picture: Neil McCartney.
Tomorrow, it’s once again time to spend 67 minutes celebrating Nelson Mandela’s birthday but times have changed dramatically from when people would head into the streets to clean up their neighbourhoods, fix up a creche or school, or tame an overgrown park.
It was Madiba’s wish that “… such a day can serve to bring together people around the world to fight poverty and promote peace and reconciliation”.
Northcliff High School will be holding a virtual fun run and the details of where and how people can make donations will be on its Facebook page.
“Throughout the lockdown our school has … been supporting families who have really been battling,” said head boy George Devenish in an e-mail to The Citizen.
“We will celebrate Mandela Day by asking all to step up and make a contribution to the work being done by our parents’ association care team to help families in need.”
The SA Harvest and Chefs with Compassion will be “rising to Madiba’s call through the … #67000litres for Mandela Day cook-a-thon”.
“In … Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban, Bloemfontein, Mokopane, Rustenburg, Vereeniging, Port Elizabeth and Nelspruit a hearty, nutritious soup will be cooked … to provide meals for 268 000 people,” their joint statement read.
People can help Chefs with Compassion continue providing meals to poverty-stricken communities with a donation of R10 – less than the cost of a cappuccino. Visit chefswithcompassion.org.za for further details. The first virtual Nelson Mandela Foundation annual lecture will be delivered by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at 3pm. The title of his lecture is Tackling the Inequality Pandemic: A New Social Contract for a New Era, and links to view the address will be on the Nelson Mandela Foundation YouTube channel.
The Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital is running a campaign called #ServeLikeMadiba. Its chief executive, Dr Mandisa Maholwana, said: “We are asking the public to make the hospital a charity of their choice. We have compiled a wish list of ways the public can support our hospital, which includes donating as little as R20 through our SMS line 40301 by texting the word ‘Gift’.”
Donations of toiletries and pyjamas for children at the hospital would also be welcomed.
– amandaw@citizen.co.za
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