Mandela Day – 18 July

Every year on Mandela’s birthday, citizens are called on to devote 67 minutes to community service. Each year on 18 July, millions of South Africans (and people around the world) are encouraged to spend 67 minutes working for the good of others. The duration symbolizes the 67 years that the late Nelson Mandela spent fighting for social justice.
Nelson Mandela devoted his life to the service of humanity — as a human rights lawyer, a prisoner of conscience, an international peacemaker and the first democratically elected president of a free South Africa.

Mandela Day was founded on the principle that we can all give a little bit of our time to have a positive effect on the life of someone else. We can all make a difference in our community and help change the world for the better! On 18 July every year, we invite you to mark Nelson Mandela International Day by making a difference in your communities. Everyone has the ability and the responsibility to change the world for the better! Mandela Day is an occasion for all to take action and inspire change.

You can find further information about the Day, and about Mandela’s life, on the UN’s Nelson Mandela International Day web pages and also on the Nelson Mandela Foundation website.

How can you celebrate Mandela Day? Here is a list of ideas:

• Volunteer in your community (for a shelter, a charity, a care home, etc)
• Take part in a neighbourhood clean-up.
• Donate clothes (at U-turn, The warehouse, etc) or food to a food Bank/charity/care home.
• Donate stationery and books (especially to a library/a School that needs it). Put together stationary packs (pens, stickers, coloured paper, scissors, etc.) for teachers at an under-resourced school.
• Make ‘care kits’ (including a comb, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, face cloth, etc. ) for patients at a nearby government hospital.
• Host a dinner where the meal budget is R5 per person as a way of identifying with the millions who live below the poverty line.
• Go on a social media fast for the day and make an effort to get to know people who you wouldn’t ordinarily speak to.
• Offer to fix things at a local school or organisation (paint, broken windows, etc).
• Offer to read stories to children at a children’s home.
• Organise a tea party for care givers.
• Baby-sit for a single parent.
• Throw a party for the residents of an old age home.
• Mow the garden or clean the windows for a senior citizen.
• Spend time with/get to know someone who has Special Needs
• Give blood
• Learn first aid
• Do some recycling
• Plant a tree
• Support local businesses
• Etc, etc, etc!!!

Positive change was the gift left to all of us by Nelson Mandela, but it can only become a living legacy if we take up his challenge.

In the spirit of Madiba and his vision to spread social justice and freedom for all, this is your chance to become part of a continuous global movement for good.