How to do your bit for Mandela Day
2012-07-16 14:30
Cape Town - South Africans everywhere are gearing up to do some good on Wednesday, 18 July 2012.
Mandela Day is an annual initiative focused on making the world a better place. The idea is to spend 67 minutes of your time on a specific day helping the world, just as Nelson Mandela spent 67 years of his life fighting for freedom.
The actual amount of time doesn’t matter as much as the helping others out.
This year Mandela Day falls on Wednesday, which for many will be a day spent at work. If you won’t be able to grab 67 minutes off during the day, we’ve included some ideas of things that can be done before or after work. For these and more ideas, please visit www.mandeladay.com
Work-friendly ideas
- Offer to take an elderly neighbour who can’t drive to do their shopping/chores.
- Sponsor a group of learners to go to the theatre/zoo.
- Take a bag full of toys to a local hospital that has a children’s ward.
- Take old clothes or books to a charity close by
- Create a food parcel and give it to someone in need.
- Take someone’s dog for a walk if they are too frail to do so themselves.
- Mow someone’s lawn and help them to fix things around their house.
- Phone people you haven’t spoken to in a while and always want to hear from you. Your great aunt, your grandfather etc.
- If you drive past schoolchildren walking to school, give them a lift.
- Help out at a soup kitchen after work
- Plant a tree
Other ideas
- Organise to clean up your local park, river, beach, street, town square or sports grounds with a few friends.
- Help someone to get his/her business off the ground.
- Get in touch with your local HIV organisations and find out how you can help.
- Mentor a school leaver or student in your field of expertise.
- Donate your skills. If you’re a photographer, go and take pictures of a charity. If you’re an accountant, offer to help a struggling business/charity with its books.
- Teach an adult literacy class.
What some of our users will be doing
- Planting a tree in the park (Ulrich Gericke)
- How about everyone says only good & nice things for 67 minutes? (Leoné Kirk Mills)
- Mending my neighbour's fence (Sira Ndlamhlaba)
- We will be launching a kids book club at a safe home in Tembisa. And having fun with the kids (Percy Matsena)
- I’ll be online doing some cyber goodwill, spreading the message, encouraging others to contribute (Mbuyazi Ka Mthinta)
- Collecting things for an army corporal whose house burnt down 3 July. She lost one of her 4-year-old twin sons. (Petro Batt)
- Will be serving cake and tea at an old age home! Done it before, it's wonderful to see all the happy faces. (Annelize van Wyk)
- I'll pray for my country and leaders for 67 minutes (Hilton P Arendsen)
- I'll be donating clothes to homeless children( Sputla Sputlaldihno)
- Cooking for homeless kids (Peter Moraka Manthodi)
- There is a gogo in Gugulethu who is 89-years-old and stays with her
grandson who is in a wheelchair, and a great-grandson. I'll spend my day
with them and cook for them while I clean their house (Mia-anza Brenda
Makhwara)
- I'll be launching a Sports For All Programme with the disadvantaged teenagers from Lawley Ext.2. Soccer will be a prominent sport. But might introduce other sports like basketball, volleyball and cricket. (Sydney Misheck Banda)
What are you going to do this Mandela Day? Publish your ideas on News24!
