JOHANNESBURG, July 14
(Xinhua) -- The Nelson Mandela Center
of Memory kicked off the
Mandela's 95th birthday celebrating
activities with a visit to the
Bertrams Junior School here on
Sunday.
The Mandela's birthday
will be marked all over the
world on July 18 every year, and
people across the globe will use 67
minutes to offer their services to
create a better world as part
of the Mandela Day
celebrations.
The focus of the
Mandela Day this year is poverty
alleviation and shelter.
Sello
Hatang, CEO of the Nelson Mandela
Center of Memory, encouraged people to
keep the Mandela's spirit of
helping other people
alive.
"One gift one can
give to Madiba (Mandela's nickname)
is to educate children and improve
the quality of education, seeing
children getting the education they
need," Hatang said.
The center
said while it is good that
people donate 67 minutes to the
community, they should make every day
a Mandela day by continuously striving
to assist others.
Mandela's
grandson Zondwa Mandela made a passion
plea for people of the world to
work towards improving their community,
saying, "My grandfather is critical
but improving. The driving force for
the success of South Africa is
educating the children."
"We
have to learn and keep his
legacy of kindness and good deed
alive," he added.
He said
they will celebrate Mandela's birthday
as a family and have a meal
as a family, hoping that his
grandfather could join them as a
family.
He said Mandela is
still responding to touch and voice
with his eyes, adding that his
birthday this year will be like
in other previous years to be
proved to be a unifying factor
of South Africans and people of
the world.
Mandela's
granddaughter Zoleka also invited people
to use the 67 minutes to make a
change in other people's
lives.
South Africa's Deputy
Minister of Basic Education Enver
Surty called on people to walk
in Mandela's footsteps and share
his spirit. "We are gathering here
for the extra ordinary man, Nelson
Mandela, a man who has taught
us love, about humility, compassion
and that education is the most
powerful tool to change the world,"
Surty said.
Zondwa and Zoleka
cut the birthday cake for Mandela,
while school children sang "Happy
Birthday to Mandela."
As Zondwa
cut the cake, he said, "I wish
my grandfather could be around, but
I will cut it on his
behalf."
The Bertrams Junior
School is also turning 95 years like
Mandela.
"We are celebrating
Madiba's legacy, a man of peace
and love, has changed the people
worldwide," said the headmistress of
the Bertrams Junior School, Khanyi
Thwala.
