Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela

8/14/2013

Nelson Mandela's 95th birthday was celebrated throughout the world with great fanfare and adoration on July 18th, which has been declared by the United Nations as Nelson Mandela International Day. Mandela celebrated this milestone in a Pretoria hospital, where he has been treated for a recurring lung infection since June 8th. He received birthday wishes from South Africa's President Zuma who was encouraged by Mandela's progress toward recovery.

As part of the birthday festivities South Africans were asked to volunteer 67 minutes to charity to match the 67 years that Mandela served his country - leading South Africa through the tense transition from apartheid to democracy and becoming president in the nation's first all-race election held in 1994.

In 1999 Nelson Mandela founded the not-for-profit Nelson Mandela Foundation to support his commitment to philanthropy upon his retirement from the presidency. The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, inaugurated by Mandela in 2004, delivers the core-work of the foundation focusing on documenting the "Life and Times of Nelson Mandela," facilitating the "Dialogue for Social Justice" and promoting the "Nelson Mandela International Day," intended to sustain the memory and influence of this iconic leader. The Centre works closely with its sister organizations, the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and The Mandela Rhodes Foundation. It coordinates its activities with those of other institutions that have a stake in its founder's legacy as well, including the 46664 Campaign, the Nelson Mandela Institute for Education and Rural Development, the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital, the Nelson Mandela Museum and the Robben Island Museum, which many of our readers have visited.

Contributions to the Nelson Mandela Foundation or any of its sister organizations would be gratefully accepted by following the links provided.

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