We try to live the legacy of Nelson Mandela in our everyday behaviour and interactions, but every year for Mandela’s birthday on 18 July, we try to do that little bit extra to make our communities a better place. From helping create an arts and crafts container in Blikkiesdorp to a mobile library in Khayelitsha, we try to invest our time and money back into our country.
In honour of Nelson Mandela Day 2015, Design Indaba announced a giveaway of R67 000 to assist those looking to make a positive change in their communities. Ideas were submitted to us via our Facebook and Twitter pages and we are proud to be able to share some images from the creative people doing wonderful interventions all around the country.
From seed-planting sessions, decorating care packs for rape victims, yarn-bombing, feasts based on Mandela’s favourite foods, to blankets for rescue-dog and beanies for children. We believe that even small changes can make a big different in someone’s life.
Here are some of the projects that were carried out in our communities on Mandela day:
Soil for Life trained members of the Cape Town community in organic food gardening using low-cost soil building, water-wise and environmentally friendly technologies on Mandela Day. They used the R1000 to stock up on resources for Saturday's workshop.
The Rape Crisis Centre invited members of the community in and around Mowbray to decorate and create care packs for rape survivors. Each care pack was filled with toiletries for men, women, boys or girls to clean themselves once they've gone through reporting the crime and forensics. The care packs also included messages of encouragement.
I Scream & Red teaches people with disabilities and from disadvantaged areas how to design bags made from recycled seat belts, reused upholstery and rejected sample fabric books. These makers are now given the opportunity to then teach others within their areas they live in.
Little People is a centre that caters for children with disabilities such as autism, aspergers and ADHD. On Mandela Day the staff at Little People ran workshops where their children made “buckets of love” hand out. The buckets were all handmade from two litre bottles, Handy Andy bottles and other recycled materials. Each bucket is as unique as the child who made it: some were filled with sweet treats, homemade playdough and a recycled game. Little People also make toys and many other goodies from recycled materials.
For its 67 minutes on Mandela Day Prince Albert Animal Welfare/Dieresorg (PADS) made beds for township dogs using dustbin bags and balls of newspaper. The organisation is based in the Karoo, where temperatures plummet to well below freezing in winter yet many of the dogs in the township have no bedding or shelter. Blankets harbour ticks and fleas and are often left out in the rain, but by using waterproof dustbin bags PADS ensured the beds stay dry, and newspaper is a brilliant insulator to the cold.
Two groups of volunteers made a total of 46 beds, which will be distributed to the dogs this week when PADS do their clinic run in the township. The beauty of this project is that when the dogs have flattened the newspaper balls so much that they are no longer effective as beds, the dogs' owners can remove them from the bags and use them to fuel their own braziers.
Woza Moya & Friends yarn-bombed a huge Jacaranda Tree outside the premises of the Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust to raise awareness and funds for their Respite Unit on Mandela Day. The tree is called the Hero Tree. Companies and individuals made donations to the Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust and had the hero's name (the donors) written on a piece of material and pinned onto the Hero Tree.
Maritsa Hough donated over 100 beanies and scarves to Tyger Cubs (Tygerberg Hospital's paediatric unit).
Daniel Engelbrecht helped young people at the NAC Strandfontein Village Youth church group distribute sandwiches, beanies and scarves to their local community.
Kawu Koenaite gave a seniour women’s soccer team in a rural area a matching kit.
Nombuso Mathibela and her friends headed to Fikelela Children's Home in Khayelitsha with disposable cameras and had the kids take photos for 67 minutes (or as long as the film lasts). She plans to develop the pictures in A5 and A4 sizes and auction them off, returning the proceeds to the orphanage.
