Nelson Mandela International Day 2015 is a day to do community service for 67 minutes on July 18, in honour of the more than 67 years Nelson Mandela committed to working toward eliminating apartheid, bringing about racial reconciliation and erasing poverty in South Africa.

 

This morning, a cold south wind blasted Grahamstown, but brilliant winter sunshine took off the edge of the wind’s biting chill. Vilis and I walked quickly through Rhodes University campus and up Gunfire Hill to 1820 Settlers National Monument, arriving as the rising sun shed its golden light onto the city. We huddled behind the monument, out of the wind, and then headed downhill into the new day. (Tap on the photo to enlarge.)

For the past few days, I’ve heard references to Mandela Day on South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reports. Of course, I realized that the day was named for Nelson Mandela, the famous South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, leader of the first fully democratically elected South African government and former president of South Africa, who died in December 2013. I also knew, from having read Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, that he had been born in the Eastern Cape village of Mvezo, which is about 430 kilometres northeast of Grahamstown.

This morning, I looked up Mandela Day online and discovered that it is a United Nations-proclaimed, international commemorative day held annually on July 18, which was Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela’s date of birth in 1918. Not intended as a public holiday, Mandela Day is a call for people to volunteer and do acts of community service for 67 minutes on July 18, in honour of the more than 67 years Mandela committed to working toward eliminating apartheid, bringing about racial reconciliation and erasing poverty in South Africa. Nelson Mandela International Day is based on the premise that every individual can be a catalyst for change. Every individual can make a difference.

I confess that I had never heard of Mandela Day before this week, although groups began celebrating it on July 18, 2009. The United Nations officially declared Nelson Mandela International Day in November 2009, with the first official celebration of it five years ago, on July 18, 2010. Perhaps the media in my home country of Canada never mentioned it. Perhaps I wasn’t listening. I’m listening now. And I’m thinking about what kind of community service I can do here in Grahamstown for 67 minutes tomorrow, July 18, on Nelson Mandela International Day 2015.