Every year on July 18th, the world comes together to celebrate Nelson Mandela International Day, honouring the legacy of South Africa’s most iconic leader. Read on for our need-to-know facts and information on our work in South Africa.
Welcome to Nelson Mandela International Day. A day to celebrate the life, legacy and leadership of the famous South African visionary.
We’ve been working in South Africa since 2001, collaborating with our local partner organisations to bring children back to family. Today, we’re looking to the road ahead – continuing to build a future where no child grows up without a loving family. Anywhere.
Unsplash – Gregory Fullard
The History of Nelson Mandela International Day
What is Nelson Mandela International Day?
Created by the United Nations in 2009, Nelson Mandela International Day is a day to honour the life and accomplishments of Nelson Mandela.
It’s celebrated on July 18th in commemoration of Mandela’s birthday. Every year, people are encouraged to spend 67 minutes – one for each year of Mandela’s political career – to remember his achievements as a figurehead for South African and global peace movements.
Who was Nelson Mandela?
Nelson Mandela was a revolutionary anti-apartheid leader in South Africa. He spent 27 years in prison for fighting against segregation.
After being freed in 1990, Mandela led the way to seeing the end of apartheid, creating a new, democratic, integrated South Africa. In ’94, he became the country’s first Black President.
Mandela’s work on equality and justice won him the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, cementing his place as a global icon.
“The true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children.”
Nelson Mandela
Unsplash – John Paul Henry
Celebrating Nelson Mandela International Day
Why is Nelson Mandela Day important?
Nelson Mandela Day is a huge day on the calendar, and not just in South Africa. It’s a day to honour Mandela’s vision of unity, of peace. It’s also a time to commemorate the ongoing struggle for justice.
Unsplash – Fogelberg
Our work in South Africa
Bringing strength back to family
Nelson Mandela was a strong advocate for children’s rights. He believed every child deserves a loving, family environment. A place to grow. A place to thrive.
Our children are the rock on which our future will be built, our greatest asset as a nation. They will be the leaders of our country.
Nelson Mandela
Following in Mandela’s footsteps, our team in South Africa works with children, for children. We’re taking steps to secure a bigger, brighter and bolder future for all children in the country. And from education to development, emotional well-being to health, that all comes back to family.
Orphanages in South Africa
Right now, in South Africa, over 8,200 children are growing up inside 282 orphanages. That’s 2,800 children denied their right to family. To love.
And what’s worse, on average, 80% of these children have living families they could be growing up with. Which is exactly what we’re fighting for.
Read more about why children are separated from their families and placed in orphanages.
Hope and Homes for Children
How we’re helping
In South Africa, your donations are helping us to transform child care – moving away from orphanages and towards a system that puts family first.
In the Gauteng Province, the largest in South Africa, we’re working on closing down the remaining orphanages and getting the children living inside back to family.
Many of the families we work with face stigma due to HIV/AIDS. We’re helping them access the health, education and welfare services they need to overcome their challenges and be reunited with their children. Read more about how we support families here.
And, we’re preventing any more children from being placed in orphanages by training ‘Temporary Safety Parents’ – emergency foster parents that form the first line of defence against any more children being placed in orphanages, welcoming children into their homes for temporary, safe shelter.
Read more about our life-changing work in South Africa here.
Hope and Homes for Children
Thank you for your support
This Nelson Mandela International Day, join us in celebrating Mandela’s legacy, the progress made by South Africa, and the road ahead as we create a better world for its children. Thank you.
