The Community Chest has hailed its event celebrating Nelson Mandela International Day a success after hundreds of books were donated for a book mountain built outside its city offices.
The organisation will distribute the books to local children in need after inviting corporates and the public to donate them for a book mountain forming part of their 67 minutes in honour of Madiba’s spirit of giving.
Community Chest chief executive Lorenzo Davids said: “There is no better way to honour the icon than through the gift of intelligence, by spreading knowledge and understanding about the world we live in. We want to pass that legacy of intelligence on to the children.”
Davids said they were overwhelmed by the public's response and hoped the initiative would grow.
Beneficiaries of their initiative are St Francis Children’s Home in Athlone, Masigcine Children’s Home in Mfuleni and Siyakhula Educare in Ashton.
“We want to share as many books as possible. Children should read real books, not just information on social media,” said Davids.
The Strange Orphanage and Widows (Sow) organisation donated about 40 books.
Sow’s Moses Awilo said: “We wanted to commemorate this day by doing something special for charity.”
First National Bank's Portside branch had 200 volunteers involved in various initiatives across the city.
Volunteer representative Pearl Nel said they obligated every volunteer to bring a book if they wanted to get involved.
Meanwhile, Adventure Club, a mobile app that puts families in touch with social activities around the city for children aged four to 10, hosted a “Make Music for Madiba” event with 93 children and 73 guardians at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.
The event saw all the children learning the “Madiba Shuffle” dance and singing the national anthem as part of local radio station Smile 90.4 FM’s effort to create the city's biggest busking event.
The busking event included 67 acts, performing in various locations around Cape Town, for 67 minutes. The event was to raise funds for a city music development programme that enables children from under-resourced communities to access music tuition and musical instruments.
The club’s Meryl Rabe said: “We bring families together to make new friends and spend time with their kids. Kids love to make music and they all know and love Madiba. They also like serving, so this initiative was the perfect way for us to get children involved in giving back.”