​​​Stellenbosch University (SU) students and staff will once again celebrate Mandela Day with various projects and initiatives. The year 2019 marks the ten-year anniversary of Mandela Day as a global movement and call to action in addressing social justice issues.

The call to action draws attention to the Mandela Day goals of providing quality education for all children, reducing hunger, providing safe shelter for families to live and sanitation that is safe in every school and community, and dedicating more resources to supporting poverty eradication. These all speak to the overall goal of #actionagainstpoverty and the Mandela Day slogan of “Take action. Inspire change. Make every day a Mandela day". 

This year, SU would like to recommit to partnerships with purpose through its Mandela Week activities and highlight the importance of sustainable relationships in development. Activities kick off in the week of 15 July, but the majority will take place in the week of 22 July. Among others, the campus community aims to pack 50 000 meals for donation to the larger Stellenbosch community. The same activity will also be taking place on the Tygerberg campus.

• Activities on the Stellenbosch campus include a “Cook-up crew", a community partner soup cookout, where SU staff and community members will prepare soup for donation to various Stellenbosch NGOs and early childhood development centres; a Pink Drive mobile cancer screening service for SU staff and Jamestown community members; and a drive to collect sanitary pads and stationery.
• The Tygerberg campus will see students and staff selling cupcakes to raise funds for the Cupcakes for Kids with Cancer organisation, reading to children in the paediatric department of Tygerberg Hospital, providing soup and engaging with residents of the Bellville Night Shelter and tutoring learners at the Kalkfontein Primary School, among others activities. 

Mandela Week activities will culminate in a fun-filled, interactive collaborative community event in Jamestown on Friday 26 July. Here a career fair, a soapbox debate facilitated by WOW, six-a-side soccer games and an Amazing Reading Race will be held for Stellenzicht learners, as well as a community entrepreneurship market in collaboration with Ranyaka and the Jamestown Business Forum.

Click here​ for more information on all the activities and to see how you can get involved. For more information, please contact Michelle Pietersen (Stellenbosch) at [email protected] or Avril Whate (Tygerberg) at [email protected].