Celebrating Mandela day in Paterson, South Africa
Vinourica Ndou, Born Free’s Community Engagement Manager (South Africa), reports as renovations take-shape at the Lighthouse, a space for coordinated community action.
Mandela Day, 18 July, Lighthouse Project, incon © BF South Africa
Every year on July 18, the world comes together to honour Nelson Mandela’s life and legacy, his unwavering dedication to justice, equality, and human dignity. Mandela Day is more than just a celebration of the man; it is a global call to action. It reminds us that the fight against poverty and inequity is far from over, and that the responsibility to build a better world still rests in our hands.
Vinourica Ndou (c) Lyndon Brandt
This year’s theme for Mandela day is: It’s still in our hands to combat poverty and inequality. In the communities that we work with in South Africa, which are based in the rural Eastern Cape, poverty and inequality are part of the challenges that we face in delivering our work. We therefore decided to celebrate this year’s theme by having a soft launch at one of our project sites, in Paterson, which we hope will be a community beacon to help, in part, to combat poverty, inequality and long-term environmental sustainability.
More than a decade after Nelson Mandela’s passing, the ideals he fought for remain painfully relevant. Across the globe, millions of people still live without access to basic necessities such as clean water, education, healthcare, and dignified work. The project we are currently involved with in Paterson was started by caring and concerned community members who decided to renovate a dilapidated building that was being used by youth for all the wrong reasons. The renovated building was to be used to provide a safe environment for youth and provide a centre for positive youth development through mentors, enabling and encouraging sports development and environmental awareness activities. The project was, rightly so, named the Lighthouse. This project, a community initiative to tackle community challenges, is a true Mandela spirit initiative.
Born Free’s Community Engagement team has been in partnership with the Lighthouse project for the past five years, and with amazing support from the Kebony Family Trust over the last year, have been able to support (both physically and technically) the completion of the building renovations, albeit with some minor work still to be done.
On Friday, in partnership with the project founders, we invited the community to celebrate Mandela day, initiate the beginning of our work, and to introduce the partners who will help the founders, and the community, hopefully realise the intended purpose of the renovated building – the day the building truly lives to become the Lighthouse of the community.
The day included fixing the building perimeter fence, working the soil for the garden, and making a pledge to the project by using handprints to paint a mural on the building wall. The pledge – my lighthouse, my legacy – is to encourage a sense of ownership and responsibility towards the project and its success.
Children plant trees at the Lighthouse
We started off the day with Pastor Abraham Kock introducing all stakeholders present which included Born Free Foundation and other organisations that had joined in which were Shamwari Conservation Experience (SCE), Amakhala Game Reserve, Shamwari Foundation, the ward councillor. Pastor Abraham Kock is one of the three Lighthouse directors. Pastor Kock reminded people about the history of the building and where it is today. During his speech he said, “This building was re-established by people who care about us, people who show they have Mandela’s spirit. We were then joined by organisations such as Born Free and Shamwari when they realised the positive outcomes that this project could bring to the community. Today such organisations already have plans laid out to assist as much as they can. It is now up to us as a community to protect and take care of this place.”
The objective of the day was to let the community know that they are the custodians of the Lighthouse, therefore the planned activities enforced this. Such activities were having community members fix the damaged fence, clean up around the Lighthouse, plant trees around the house and make a handprint pledge on the wall. SCE played games with the children, keeping the youth engaged and cheerful as the day progressed.
We also conducted a survey with the community for us to understand what matters the most to them and their expectations from the project. Participants’ age ranges from 20 to 75 years, with the majority unemployed or pensioners. Several are disabled but eager to volunteer, which shows inclusive participation. Participants expected the project to assist in skills training and help with waste management. Job creation, safety, and youth development are major community concerns. Job creation and safety dominate across all age groups, confirming economic insecurity and personal safety are central worries.
Community members help with the mural
Youth development appears consistently, even from older respondents, suggesting multi-generational concern. The above mentioned could show the community mindset that people are aware of economic, environmental, and youth-based challenges, and are ready to be part of the solution. Many unemployed individuals are still willing to offer mentorship and leadership. Older respondents mostly offered mentorship, showing an interest in intergenerational guidance. Our activities were designed to link with the objective of the day and with the many hands that went onto the pledge, I can attest that the day was a success.
After the activities, the community was provided food for the day, Amakhala staff provided care packages to 150 community members and a farmer by the name of Gladys N. Melule donated oranges from her farm after hearing about the event. Approximately 200 community members were reached from this event alone.
During the day we conducted a few interviews and surveys with community members. During one of the interviews with Mr. Clifford Salters, a community leader, he said, “We are grateful that there are such organisations that recognize the needs of the people in communities. Many of our youth turn to drugs and drop out of school due to lack of support. It makes not only me but the community happy to know that there is a building, -our building – that has been made for the purpose of helping our youth. Thank you to all the organisers and for allowing us to know the intentions of this place. Thank you.”
Once the project is up and running Born Free plans to utilise the space to engage youth from the three local schools through after-school conservation clubs, sports for conservation activities and practical environmental awareness initiatives such as clean up campaigns, wildlife friendly gardening and environmental day celebrations.
The challenges we face are vast, but Mandela taught us that resilience, hope, and unity are stronger. Whether you’re a student or a CEO, a farmer or a policymaker it is still in your hands. In our hands. In all of us, together.
Change is always possible when we choose to act.