Mandela Day: A gallery of good deeds
The famous and not-so- famous gathered at Nelson
Mandela Square in Sandton a few months ago to
record a birthday song for Madiba. PICTURE: BOXER NGWENYA
Former US President, Bill Clinton, right, meets with former South African President Nelson Mandela at his home in Qunu, South Africa, Tuesday, July 17, 2012 on the eve of Mandela's 94th birthday. (AP Photo/Peter Morey)
(AP) JOHANNESBURG - Annah Nankie Nhlapo has been waiting 22 years for a home. On a dusty narrow road on the outskirts of Johannesburg, the foundation of her new house is finally taking shape.
Over the next five days, to commemorate the U.N.-mandated Nelson Mandela International Day, housing charity Habitat for Humanity is working with volunteers to build 67 houses across South Africa, in honor of Mandela's 67 years of political service. Nhlapo is one of the lucky ones who will be handed keys on Friday.
For two decades, she and her five children have lived crowded into one of the flimsy shacks that sprawl across Orange Farm, a settlement named after its original purpose.
"I'm happy and I feel proud of myself because it's been a long time staying in a shack that is leaking water," said Nhlapo, a 47-year-old single mother.
That the house is being built to honor Mandela resonates with Nhlapo, who sees South Africa's first black president as a champion of nation building.
Across the country, and even abroad, people are doing good deeds to honor the country's most famous statesman on his 94th birthday Wednesday.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton got the celebrations off to an early start Tuesday. He and daughter Chelsea met for 1 ½ hours with Mandela in his birth village of Qunu in a remote, southeastern corner of the country. Photographs tweeted by one of Mandela's grandsons showed the Nobel Peace Prize winner comfortably seated in an armchair with a blanket over his knees and with the Clintons and his wife, Graca Machel, at his side.
Then Clinton, Chelsea and Machel each planted an avocado pear tree to mark the occasion. Clinton said he is fond of the trees, an African symbol of growth and sustenance.
The Obamas also congratulated Mandela in a White House statement.
"On a personal note, our family has been inspired by Madiba's example, and has deeply appreciated the time we have spent with him, and his wisdom, grace and generosity of spirit," President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle wrote.
Children will begin their school day Wednesday by singing Happy Birthday to Madiba, the clan name by which Mandela is fondly known. South Africans of all colors to whom Mandela is a hero came up with creative ways to do 67 minutes of community service.
Many volunteers will be collecting books, distributing sanitary pads and cleaning up neighborhoods. In Pretoria, a tattoo parlor is hoping to tattoo clients with 67 images of Mandela's face, with proceeds going to charity. On Constitution Hill Saturday, artist James Delaney used coffee cups to create a mosaic of Mandela.
Asked what would be the best gift for Mandela, Nobel laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu said the greatest gift the nation could give would be "to emulate his magnanimity and grace."
"Mr. Mandela taught us to love ourselves, to love one another and to love our country," Tutu said.
Mandela's 50-year fight, including 27 years in jail, helped bring democracy and freedom to the once white-ruled South Africa. But the country remains beset by tensions over continued white minority domination of the economy, massive unemployment, poor education and health services and the millions who remain homeless or in shacks.
When Mandela's African National Congress won power in 1994, the housing shortage was a priority.
Eighteen years in, informal settlements without electricity and running water have ballooned and the lack of adequate housing for the poor is at crisis point, said Kate Tissington, a senior researcher at the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa.
"You get the sense from government officials that there is a never-ending battle to eliminate the housing backlog," she said.
Some 3 million homes have been built for some of South Africa's 50 million people, according to Xolani Xundu, spokesman for the government Department of Human Settlements. But 2.2 million more homes are needed, he said.
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