South Africans celebrate as Mandela turns 92
Source: Agencies |
July 19, 2010, Monday
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A SOUTH African community once riven by anti-foreigner violence came together yesterday in the spirit of Nelson Mandela to play a little soccer.
The so-called "goodwill games" were among activities around the world marking Mandela Day yesterday and was conceived as an international day devoted to public service.
Community leaders in Atteridgeville organized the unity-building tournament of teams of South Africans, Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and Somalis who all live in this poor, black neighborhood on the edge of South Africa's capital.
Mandela, who turned 92 years old yesterday and is largely retired from public life, was spending the day with his family in Johannesburg. Early yesterday, his wife went to an orphanage in Soweto to help plant a vegetable garden.
"Today is an opportunity for millions of people around the world to look inside themselves and find those beautiful qualities as any human being has and say: 'I am able to make a difference to my neighbor, to someone underprivileged, I can extend my goodness to other people'," Mandela's wife Graca Machel said yesterday.
She said that while her husband was no longer so physically strong, "his spirit is strong as ever."
President Jacob Zuma and other government officials were marking the day in Mandela's birthplace of Mvezo by planting trees and painting classrooms in the far southern region of the country that is among the poorest in South Africa.
In a speech in Mvezo, Zuma said Mandela taught South Africans that "we must work together to entrench African unity and solidarity in our country."
US President Barack Obama wished Mandela a happy birthday. "We are grateful to continue to be blessed with his extraordinary vision, leadership, and spirit. And we strive to build upon his example of tolerance, compassion and reconciliation," Obama said.
The so-called "goodwill games" were among activities around the world marking Mandela Day yesterday and was conceived as an international day devoted to public service.
Community leaders in Atteridgeville organized the unity-building tournament of teams of South Africans, Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and Somalis who all live in this poor, black neighborhood on the edge of South Africa's capital.
Mandela, who turned 92 years old yesterday and is largely retired from public life, was spending the day with his family in Johannesburg. Early yesterday, his wife went to an orphanage in Soweto to help plant a vegetable garden.
"Today is an opportunity for millions of people around the world to look inside themselves and find those beautiful qualities as any human being has and say: 'I am able to make a difference to my neighbor, to someone underprivileged, I can extend my goodness to other people'," Mandela's wife Graca Machel said yesterday.
She said that while her husband was no longer so physically strong, "his spirit is strong as ever."
President Jacob Zuma and other government officials were marking the day in Mandela's birthplace of Mvezo by planting trees and painting classrooms in the far southern region of the country that is among the poorest in South Africa.
In a speech in Mvezo, Zuma said Mandela taught South Africans that "we must work together to entrench African unity and solidarity in our country."
US President Barack Obama wished Mandela a happy birthday. "We are grateful to continue to be blessed with his extraordinary vision, leadership, and spirit. And we strive to build upon his example of tolerance, compassion and reconciliation," Obama said.
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