The time is right

The time is always ripe

to do the right thing.

Nelson Mandela was born on July 18 of 1918. He is the former President of South Africa and the first who was elected in a completely democratic election. Prior to his presidency, Mandela was an activist against apartheid, and he was

the leader of the armed wing of the African National Congress. He was convicted of Treason by the South African courts when he led the movement in his country against apartheid. Because of his conviction, Mandela spent twenty-seven years in prison, many of those years were spent on Robben Island. Mandela was released from prison in February 1990 and went on to lead the African National Congress, he supported negotiation as well as reconciliation in order to develop multi-racial democracy in South Africa. Following the end of apartheid, many people have given Mandela praise, and this includes some of his former opponents. His charisma derives from his legen-dary experiences and from his firm belief and broadmindedness. Forgiveness oversteps the divisions of races, party origins and the rules of the human nature, extricating many South Africans from the shackles of hatred and injustice. For the past dozen years or so, the black and white people have co-exited peacefully in South Africa, its economy made historical substantial headway with a gaining momentum, and its international status is rising steadily. He is now a statesman who states his opinion about many topics. For his work, he has received more than 250 awards, and the most notable of these awards is probably the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. After his term as President of South Africa, Mandela dedicated his life to supporting a wide range of charities. The Nelson Mandela Foundation supports the following charities, 46664, Action Against Hunger, Artists for a new South Africa, CHOC, Cotlands, Elders,Make

poverty history, Mineseeker Foundation, ONE, SOS Chidren’s villages.

Mandela’s network of charities use the universal connecting power of music, sport, entertainment and celebrity to educate, engage and empower those affected by HIV/AIDS, poverty, oppression and inequal-

ity. The charities draw upon an extensive global network of celebrities and high profile personalities to speak out and raise awareness in any way they can. Visual design is also used heavily as nearly all the chari-ties are online. Powerful images are used to show the suffering of a lot of people in Africa. Images showing children in especially difficult or life threatening circumstances are very common, these images are so powerful that they draw the attention of global activists, businessman and celebrities and force them to take up arms against poverty, and dis-ease. The use of images has been a very successful way of drawing people to donate to the causes supported by the Nelson Mandela foundation; the large numbers of people who attend his fundraisers and concerts and can quantify this. Millions of dollars have been donated to the foundation over the years. The smiles on the faces of children who benefit from the

Nelson Mandela Foundation tell a story of success.

Nelson Mandela is a hero who has given his life to bettering that of the oppressed and less fortunate. He has put the lives of communities first and wants to see an end to all suffering be it through disease, hunger

or illiteracy. Mandela shows that as he was imprisoned for more than a quar-ter of a century fighting for the oppressed, he is now dedicating the rest of his life to making the lives of others more bearable. The image of Mandela the politician has been replaced by that of a man tireless in the fight against poverty, illiteracy and HIV/AIDS. Mandela has taken a backseat from politics and is rarely seen using his name for politics and given his name to charities that are close to his heart. The collaboration with A-list celebrities and world lead-ers to raise awareness on issues of global suffering has worked particularly well especially with HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns, these targeted the youth and celebrities were the best to deliver the message as they are very appealing to today’s youth. Global leaders have also made it easier to get funds flowing into the charities supported by the Mandela Foundation. Global leaders have used their extensive network of wealthy organizations and individuals to push the message of the foundation across, as a result the Nelson Mandela Foundation has raised millions of dollars and distributed it amongst the large network of

charities it supports.

"Safety and security don't just happen, they are the re-sult of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulner-able citizens in our society, a life free of violence and

fear."

“There can be no keener rev-elation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats

its children.”

“Children require to live in a safe and conducive envi-ronment that allows them to dream and envision a meaning-ful future for themselves, their community and society.”

“We in the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund firmly believe in letting chil-dren be themselves as fully and cre-atively as possible. We believe in working with children and not just for children. We understand and pro-mote the notion that while children need to be guided, they also have an entrenched right to be whatever they want to be and that they can achieve this only if they are given the space to dream and live out their dreams.”

“Education is the great en-gine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation.”

“All over our globe we find large masses of the population subject to the most ab-ject forms of poverty and deprivation: hunger, lack of adequate shelter, illiteracy and igno-rance, and the ravages of preventable diseases. The scientific, technological and industrial progress humankind has made over the last cen-tury, outstripping the cumulative results of all that went before, is mocked by this gross inequality in the world. We have the capacity to feed, clothe, shelter, educate and medi-cally treat the population of the planet. Com-munications technology has brought us so close together that we can no longer claim ignorance of the want and suffering of anyone else any-

where in the world.”

“The majority of the world's pop-ulation languishes in conditions of abject poverty and deprivation. This is in spite of the fact that we have the capacity to take care of all the world's people. This is in spite of the opulence and privilege in which large sectors

of the world live.”

“Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life.”

designed by Rodwell Mabuwa