The call to action for International Nelson Mandela Day for the year 2022 is: “Do What you can, with what you have, where you are.” This simple sentence conveys the notion that anyone can and should take it upon themselves to catalyze a more equitable world based on social justice.

As the Nelson Mandela Foundation explains: “Nelson Mandela International Day was launched in recognition of Nelson Mandela’s birthday on 18 July 2009 via unanimous decision of the UN General Assembly.

It was inspired by a call Nelson Mandela made a year earlier, for the next generation to take on the burden of leadership in addressing the world’s social injustices when he said that “it is in your hands now”.

It is more than a celebration of Madiba’s life and legacy; it is a global movement to honour his life’s work and to change the world for the better.”

It is indeed in our hands now, and now more than ever, each one of us need to lend our hands toward creating the world we wish to live in!

As a nation, we are under severe strain. With July 2022 sadly marking the one-year anniversary since the civil unrest and looting of 2021, some of the highest unemployment figures in recent history, expanding inflation, a sky-rocketing oil price, a war in the global north that is impacting the world economy; thereby our own, a pandemic which halted the global economy and a tragic spike in crime, much must be done to change our situation for the better. 

Therefore, sixty-seven minutes will not do and instead every effort must be made to make everyday a Mandela Day. 

This year, following the devastating floods along South Africa’s East Coast, affecting Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Eastern Cape, causing the loss of life of 435 souls, leaving countless missing and many more families homeless, it is clear that global climate change is a real and present threat for South Africa. Added to this, Statistics South Africa reports that almost 23,6% of South Africans in 2020 were affected by moderate to severe food insecurity, while almost 14,9% experienced severe food insecurity.

So this year, the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s efforts for Mandela Day, and beyond, is focused on capacitating community food gardens across all provinces of South Africa whilst planting one million indigenous and fruit trees. 

Community gardens, owned by and worked by members of the community, produce vegetables which in turn subsist Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centres, or feed other members of the community. Capacitated gardens can in turn expand, producing excess produce which can be sold by those who work the land, proceeds which can support education, housing, healthcare and many other positive socio-economic spin-offs. 

In turn, the one million trees that will be planted, will absorb the carbon dioxide human industrial activity is spewing into our atmosphere, carbon dioxide which is accelerating global climate change. One million trees will go a long way in halting and reversing global climate change. Beyond this, with the majority of the one million trees being fruit trees, these trees will in turn supplement community nutritional needs. 

Business, civil society, government, faith-based communities and ordinary people within communities all have a role to play in ensuring that this vision is realised. Moreover, the true impact of this focus can only be realised if an ongoing concerted effort is made. 

The land needs to be worked by community members, the soil needs to be fertilised, irrigated, seeds need to be planted, crops need to be tended and then harvested. Those who run the community gardens need to process their produce and feed their families or sell the produce for the benefit of the collective and once done; do it all over again.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation’s vision is to help create sustainable, lasting solutions which alleviate poverty, gives dignity and addresses the most pressing challenges facing humanity today. 

This is a time of volunteering, when those with resources donate to those who do not have, this period aids in social cohesion, as people who do not ordinarily cross paths, cross the aisle and interact with each other. These precious moments are fleeting however, and are soon forgotten, relegated to the 18^th of July. Sustainable, long-term efforts like those focused on by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, challenges each one of us to ask what we can do, with what we have, where we are? Like those trees that will be planted take time to grow, so too the seeds within community food gardens, this challenge needs our effort on an ongoing, sustainable and long lasting basis.