July the 18th was Nelson Mandela’s
94th birthday. He spent 67 years fighting for social justice here in South
Africa. To represent the 67 years he asked his countrymen to spend 67 minutes
of their day doing something nice for someone else.
Some friends and I decided to visit some of the schools in
our ministry area. We told Mandela’s story, sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and passed
out oranges, cookies, and candy to the children and teachers. It was a great
day.
As we were driving along one of the many dirt roads in the
community I came across a friend of mine. We have spoken about Mama Thandiwe
before. She is OLD, has snow white hair (when it is not in a wrap), is legally
blind, walks with crutches and has a great big heart! I stopped the car and told
her who it was speaking since she cannot see and introduced her to my friends
in the car.
We told her what we were doing and why and she shouted “Madiba’s
birthday Yoiwee.” We are not sure what ‘yoiwee’ means but she says it with such
enthusiasm it must be good. I reminded
her that Madiba (a term of endearment for Mandela) was 94 and she started
singing ‘Happy Birthday to Madiba with her arms waving in the air and turning
in circles! We sang along and then she went on her way to a ”church ladies”
meeting. We loved celebrating with the children, but Mama Thandiwe made our day
extra special!
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