World celebrates 1st Mandela Day since icon’s death
JOHANNESBURG: South Africans marked Nelson Mandela’s birthday on Friday with charitable acts in honor of the former president, whose death in December prompted a global outpouring of tributes.
People picked up litter, cooked at homes for the elderly and donated food, blankets and other basic necessities to the poor. The United Nations has declared July 18 to be Nelson Mandela International Day. Organisers had urged people to perform acts of charity for 67 minutes, symbolising the antiapartheid leader’s 67 years of public service. Graca Machel, Mandela’s widow, joined volunteers who packed food parcels at a convention center in Johannesburg.
President Zuma cleaned up a school in Mvezo, the village in the eastern Cape where Mandela was born.
Newspapers also weighed in with suggestions to volunteer in orphanages, donate books to schools or blankets to the homeless, or even to sterilise stray cats. In a country notorious for high crime rates, one person even offered a 67-minute course in self-defence. Mandela was jailed for 27 years under white minority rule and led a difficult transition to democracy, becoming president in all-race elections in 1994. He served one five-year term, evolving into a global statesman and pursuing charitable causes after that. He died December 5 at the age of 95.
His actions to reconcile his country’s divided people earned him global respect and the Nobel Peace Prize. “His extraordinary compassion after 27 years in prison showed that human rights and equality are stronger than discrimination and hate,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Google celebrated Nelson Mandela’s 96th birthday with an interactive doodle. The doodle starts with an illustration of the former South African president and with each click, his most well-known quotes, coupled with illustrations depicting stages of his ‘Long Walk to Freedom’ have been featured, the Independent reported.