Mandela Month, a different take on Mandela Day (18 July), took off with a bang at Monash South Africa (MSA) on Friday (11 July). The university launched its Mandela Month projects on Friday and made sure that people take note of their projects planned for the rest of July and contribute to it.
Around three tons (3 000 kilograms) of books were donated to MSA on Friday to be distributed to underresourced local schools and study centres.
“The 2014 Mandela Month will be particularly important since it is the first year that Nelson Mandela’s legacy is honoured in his absence,” said MSA CEO Esther Benjamin.
The Mandela Month Book Drive grew and developed from a project by Monash student Oliver Moraes who visited the MSA campus on an exchange programme from Australia in 2012.
“His generous efforts helped to collect nearly 3 000 kg of books from friends and businesses, estimated to total about 8 000 books.”
The Book Drive is held in partnership with Spell It and Nedbank Capital. Various speakers concurred that MSA believes in access to education and how it empowers and enables children and youth while having a lasting and positive impact on pupils and the communities they serve.
“Staff and students of MSA regularly share their skills and time with the community,” said Benjamin, referring specifically to Saturday School, a project by which students assist school pupils from underprivileged communities such as Zandspruit.
“This year on Mandela Day, 18 July, we will be delivering packs of books to Early Childhood Development centres in Zandspruit.
“Additional bags of books will be delivered to public schools in our area when they reopen after school holidays.”
Benjamin said that MSA became part of the Laureate International Universities network last year, which has a presence in 29 countries and serves more than 850 000 students globally. Their mission is to be “Here For Good”.
“Community engagement is an important part of the learning experience as we firmly believe it is important that our students have a well-rounded and holistic education.
“In the first half of 2014 alone, our students volunteered more than 2 700 hours,” she said.
Benjamin said that the Book Drive is only the start, with many other projects to follow throughout Mandela Month.
Those in attendance also heard a keynote speech by well-known actress and producer Thami Ngubeni.
The event was followed by a live art performance by John Adams, a Weltevreden Park artist, during which he painted a Mandela portrait. The portrait will be auctioned off and the proceeds used for their projects.
