Children Across Africa And Asia Celebrate Nelson Mandela Day

Kids present birthday posters to Nelson Mandela before his passing in 2013. Photo courtesy of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, © NMF-Debbie Yazbek.

JOHANNESBURG— ReligionUnplugged.com interviewed 11 children celebrating Nelson Mandela International Day on July 18 from Botswana, South Africa, Nigeria and India about the late president of South Africa. Mandela spent 27 years of his life incarcerated for his fight against racial discrimination against Black people by the South African apartheid government.

Christians across the globe continue to praise Mandela for emulating Christ by forgiving the apartheid government, despite having subjected Black people to racism. Some of Mandela’s famous quotes were, “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy,” and, “Forgiveness liberates the soul; it removes fear. That is why it’s such a powerful weapon.”      

Upon Mandela’s release from prison, he led South Africa into democracy as the first Black president in the country. Based on the significant role that Mandela played in the liberation of his country, in 2010 the United Nations General Assembly declared his birthday, July 18, an internationally celebrated day.

According to the South African government, Nelson Mandela International Day is an annual “global movement for positive change” that “begins with small actions.”

The Evangelical Alliance of South Africa (TEASA), which has a following of approximately 4 million Christians in the country, said churches are burdened with high rates of poverty and could not host events to honor Mandela. However, TEASA’s leader, the Rev. Moss Ntlha, said approximately 100 religious organizations, civil society groups, businesses, academia and media have signed a pledge to honor Mandela by reclaiming and renewing South Africa’s democracy, which has been eroded by corruption in government.

“We will campaign for the government, particularly at the local level, to redirect its energies to meet people’s basic needs,” said Ntlha. “We need to reinvent democracy and take back statutory organs aimed at enhancing participatory democracy in our communities.”

Across the world, religious organizations, the public, schools, businesses, and governments often devote at least 67 minutes of their time to making the world a better place in honor of the 67 years Mandela fought for social justice.

Schools usually organize activities for children as part of the celebration of this esteemed event. However, due to the second-term closure of schools, most South African children were not able to celebrate collectively. But this did not deter them from sharing their views on Mandela and the changes they hope to see in honor of his legacy.

Since schools in Botswana, Nigeria and India are not yet closed, children from some of the schools in these countries celebrated by presenting written speeches about Mandela before their peers during class lessons.

Ambika Nazareth, founder and president of Little Infant Primary and High School in Mysuru, Karnataka, India, said that the teachers taught students about Mandela’s life for part of the pre-celebration.

“It was an excellent inspiration to learn about him,” said Nazareth. “Students began to inquire about the significance of their own names when Ms. Ashika Onita Nazareth mentioned that Nelson Mandela lived up to his name.”

Apart from his fight against injustices against Black South Africans, Mandela had a heart for children and the poor. He was known for emphasizing the importance of a quality education. He ensured the establishment of new schools in the Eastern Cape.

During his speech at the Education Africa Presidential and Premier Educations Awards on Nov. 22, 1997, Mandela said, “The power of education extends beyond the development of skills we need for economic success. It can contribute to nation-building and reconciliation.”

“Madiba (Nelson Mandela) always listened closely to what children and young people shared with him,” said Nelson Mandela Foundation Communications Officer Morongwa Phukubye. “He encouraged a spirit of inquiry and critical engagement.”

The foundation’s plea to all who support the 67-minutes campaign is to “do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

The foundation’s theme for this year focuses on climate change, food security, poverty and inequity and encourages people to keep Mandela’s legacy alive.

This could look like writing “a letter to a newspaper editor about an issue you care about; organizing a prayer meeting with family and friends to pray for our country (South Africa) and host a dinner where the meal budget is R5 (5 Indian rupees, or 6 cents) per person as a way of identifying with the millions who live below the poverty line.”

The foundation also encourages communities to “attend a high school class to talk to students about your career; collect and distribute children’s books to under-resourced schools; offer to fix things at a local school or organization (paint, broken windows, etc.); organize a fun outing for children in an HIV/AIDS program; offer to read stories to children at a children’s home, throw a tea party and hold a teddy bear or book drive.”

ReligionUnplugged.com interviewed children from South Africa, Botswana, Nigeria and India to share their views about Mandela and this significant day. Their grave concerns were slavery, discrimination against the poor and the high rate of crime in society. The children interviewed were younger than 5 while Mandela was alive, as they were born between 2008 and 2012. Yet, what they know about him from teachers, newspapers and YouTube videos has made them want to walk in his footsteps.

A vision for equality

In honor of Mandela, Wisdom James, a 12-year-old Nigerian who hopes to become a doctor told ReligionUnplugged.com, “The less-privileged are treated badly, and I don’t like that.” He urged nations to treat the poor equally with kindness and “not like slaves.” Wisdom is in JSS2 class — equivalent to eighth grade in the U.S. — in Lagos, Nigeria. As an aspiring doctor, Wisdom said he desires to touch lives by “treating people who are sick.”

His Nigerian peers, 12-year-old twin brothers Meshack and Shadrack Peter, shared the same views — that everybody should be treated equally. 

Shadrack, who wants to work as a lawyer, has the heart for fighting for people’s human rights. Just like Mandela — who served as a lawyer and founded Mandela and Tambo, the first law firm run by Black partners in the Ferreirasdorp suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa — Shadrack envisions himself ensuring that nobody does anything contrary to the law.

“I love fighting for the rights of people,” explained Shadrack, a member of Christ the King Catholic Church. “I want people to be treated the same. I want to make sure that nobody is against the law.”

His twin, Meshack, agreed with him and said, “I do not want people to be treated badly. I want everybody to be treated equally and not to be treated like they are slaves, because they are human despite age, race and background.”

Meshack and Shadrack are JSS1 learners — equivalent to seventh grade in the U.S. — in Lagos, Nigeria.

Education is the most powerful tool

Kaelo Ndibi, 14, a seventh grader in Gaborone, Botswana. Photo courtesy of Ndibi.

Mandela was known for the love he had for education. He once said, “No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.”

Similarly, Kaelo Ndibi, a 14-year-old student in Gaborone, Botswana, said he wants to expand the educational sector in his country. He believes that education can be made possible for every child by including recreational activities that cater to learners who are unable to excel in academics. He explained that the education sector should not only focus on academics but work hand-in-hand with recreational activities.  

“I have realized that most presidents or governments don't understand that not each and every child will excel in academics,” said Kaelo, 14. “But that doesn't mean that every child isn't gifted. If we could pinpoint a child's skill from a very young age and sharpen that skill, it would create for a more diverse and well-developed Botswana.”

He added, “I feel like we are all focused on one lane, and that is academics. But there is so much more to explore beyond the norm. I would throw in many resources into the educational sector if I was the president. Another thing, I would allow diverse morally correct platforms where kids can go … for recreational activities. This would reduce a lot of ungodly and dangerous activities that we see kids my age engaging on these days.”

In Johannesburg, South Africa, a fifth grade, Lulama Zondi, wants to learn more about the slavery the Black South Africans faced. Although the 10-year-old learned from school that the Black citizens were segregated from the White race, she believes that there is still more to be uncovered. She yearns for young Black students to gain more knowledge about the apartheid government and how their fellow Black brothers and sisters of previous generations were mistreated.  

“I see this in most cases, us as students, we don’t learn a lot about apartheid and what happened back then,” expressed Lulama who envisions herself as scientist or therapist. “If I were a President, I would teach the young black students more about where they come from, how they were treated and how their ancestors were treated.”

She explained that she learned from school that apartheid “was the time where segregation happened. Black people lived here, and White people live there. White people had better education and a better life.”

She believes that even though Mandela deserved to be showered with gifts that are worth a lot of money for working tirelessly to end apartheid, she would have empowered him with more knowledge, had she been given the opportunity to bestow the young Mandela with a gift.

“I know that he made the world a better place because he helped us to end apartheid,” said Lulama. “But I would have given him more knowledge. I believe that could have helped him more to make it even a much better place. I know he deserved more, but I think knowledge is more powerful. To the older Mandela, I would have given him lots of money because he deserved it for helping us a lot. He worked very hard to show that all of us can be equal.”

A vision for greater income equality

Shifa Ayub and Madeeha Banu from India desire a change in the social, economic and financial policies of India.

Shifa, who is a ninth grader in Mysuru, Karnataka, India said that if she was a president, she would make distribution of income between the poor and rich more equitable.

Madeeha, a tenth-grade peer of Shifa, wants orphans, people with disabilities and the elderly to be specially treated. She would therefore implement a feasible social security system for such citizens. 

Shifa explained she would “work on reformation of economical and financial policies of the nation to ensure much of national incomes is collected on equitable basis and is allocated for development sectors and rural areas.”

Lulama Zondi from South Africa. Photo by Vicky Abraham.

Nelson Mandela: a ‘cool guy’

In 1995, Mandela founded Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, a grant-making organization to cater to children’s needs and provide funding for organizations that target children issues.

This love is clearly witnessed through multiple pictures of him embracing kids. The interviewed children shared what they would do if they had had the opportunity to meet Mandela.

Although some felt that they would have shied away from him had they met him, they felt that he was a “cool guy.” Others wished to befriend him if he were their age, whilst still others said they would have given him gratitude for his tenacity of fighting for the human rights of Black South Africans until he saw the end of the apartheid governmental system.

Lulama said, if she had met Mandela, “I would just look at him and run away. They said he was a good person, but at the same time, he looked very scary. I am younger than him, and he is (much) older than me. So, I think I would be afraid of him.”

Despite that, she added, “He gives me a certain vibe that he is very respectful. I have seen Mandela on TV. He was hugging kids.” She therefore would have loved to receive a hug from him had he been alive because “he looks like a cool guy, awesome, and he is very inspiring.”

Kaelo, who loves art and is very passionate about being a fashion designer, said, “I like everything about Mandela. I would have wanted him to be my friend because he would have been a good influence. I love the fact that even after 27 years of prison, his heart remained pure. He did not seek revenge.

“It is important to have a pure heart because that is what God wants the world to be like. I am inspired by his unconditional love. I would like to be like him because he had no hatred in his heart and he showed no anger toward anyone. He will forever be in my heart, and I’ll always be grateful for what he did for the country and the whole of Africa. I would say that he is a great and wonderful president and national monument to this continent.”

Meshack shares a mutual feeling with Kaelo about Mandela and said that he would have told the late president, “I love him because he fought for freedom and equality in South Africa. I love the fact that he was courageous. He stood up for his people. I would have thanked him for fighting for black people.”

Phukubye said the Nelson Mandela Foundation urges the children who were interviewed and their peers across the world to “keep working to make a world in which humanity truly belongs and everyone thrives.” NMF is calling on the public to use Nelson Mandela International Day 2022 to find and pursue sustainable solutions to the climate crisis and food security.

“This year's Nelson Mandela International Day will focus on sustainable interventions such as fruit and indigenous tree planting and promoting community and backyard gardens,” said Phukubye. “The climate crisis is affecting the availability, accessibility, utilization and affordability of food, which is overwhelmingly experienced by the most vulnerable amongst us. Our plea to all who support the campaign is to ‘do what you can, with what you have, where you are.’

Vicky Abraham is an investigative journalist based in South Africa and has reported for the Mail & Guardian, City Press, Assist News, the Nation newspaper in Nigeria and Nation Media Group in Kenya.