Letter from Nelson Mandela Foundation
The Nelson Mandela Foundation writes: Free yourself, free others and serve everyday
This Mandela Day, this 2014 Mandela Day, is unique. It is the first one since Mr Mandela passed away in December 2013 – it is the first one without him.
Our message has to be this: Mr Mandela is gone, but his legacy lives on; Mr Mandela is gone, but the work he started will continue. Mandela Day is not about symbolic gestures. It not about ‘one day of generosity and then back to the normal routine’. It is not about what we call in South Africa ‘do-gooding’. Instead, Mandela Day is a campaign to build cultures of service. To encourage people to take responsibility for making the world a better place for all. To make every day a Mandela Day.
In so many countries the division between the haves and the have-nots, the rich and the poor, the privileged and the underprivileged, has been growing. And one of the central problems is that of alienation – the privileged are not exposed to how the great majority of people have to live and do not see the realities of daily life for the majority.
Mandela Day seeks to contribute to overcoming that alienation. It encourages projects and programmes which expose those of us who are privileged to the experiences of those Mr Mandela called the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalised.
Mandela Day reminds us that in a well-functioning world people would not be living in abject poverty. They would not be violated in all kinds of ways. They would not be excluded from the basic services and resources which ensure human dignity.
Mandela Day demands of us that we work to make a difference. Mr Mandela followed three rules throughout his life – free yourself, free others and serve every day. It was not just a mantra but a way of life.
Mr Mandela had an overriding mission – to unite a deeply divided country through nation building, reconciliation, dialogue, debate, peace and the restoration of dignity.
His legacy has created the opportunity for our nation and indeed the world to achieve a common future through social justice.
And this is the mandate he gave the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
