Honouring Madiba this Mandela Day

Seven months after the passing of South Africa’s beloved former president Nelson Mandela, the V&A Waterfront will honour his legacy with a range of charitable activities celebrating his life and the children he loved so dearly.

The Waterfront, in partnership with Artjamming, the Lalela Project and New Somerset Hospital, is inviting children of all ages to dedicate 67 minutes of their time on Friday, 18 July. They are invited to create their own Mandela-inspired works of art, at a cost of R67 which will in turn be used to brighten the lives of less fortunate children at Somerset Hospital.

To participate, visit the Artjamming studios situated on the mezzanine level in the Breakwater Point shopping mall between 9am and 4pm. 60 to 80 children can be accommodated at a time. The cost is R67 and booking is advised. To book, please email breakingnews@artjamming.co.za.

To add developmentally stimulating colour and fun to the wards, V&A staff, facilitators and members of the Lalela Project will also paint the Barkly Children’s Ward at the New Somerset Hospital. The makeover will also include renovating the parents’ bathroom, installing new shower doors, repainting the ceilings, and undertaking other maintenance tasks.

Additionally, a shipping container refurbished to serve as a childcare centre called the Early Childhood Development Container, has been erected at the Clock Tower Square, in support of NGO Breadline Africa. Breadline Africa specialises in refurbishing shipping containers into educare centres and libraries and has transformed more than 200 containers since 1993.

The Clock Tower area will become a hive of activity on Mandela Day with buskers, balloon sculpting, face painting and more. Visitors are asked to visit the container to donate blankets, books and toys of a development and educational nature for youngsters from birth to six years of age. These will be handed out to underprivileged children throughout Cape Town. The container will be open each day from 9am to 5pm until 18 July.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whose foundation the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation works in partnership with Breadline Africa, will speak at the Early Childhood Development Container on Mandela Day, and will also participate in canvas painting and reading activities with children during the morning. The refurbished containers will officially be handed over from 10am, followed by a reading relay led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Archbishop Tutu’s remarks on the day are open to the public.