CEO on mission to conquer Kilimanjaro in honour of Madiba
Trek to raise funds to keep girls in schools aims to summit on Tata’s birthday
SELLO Hatang, chief executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF), is a man on a mission to summit Mount Kilimanjaro on Madiba’s birthday, July 18. He will be climbing as part of Trek 4 Mandela: Caring 4 Girls initiative from July 13 to 20.
“We will summit on Madiba’s birthday, July 18. The initiative is aimed at helping keep girl children in school. We will raise enough funds to keep 270 000 girls in (schools) in 2015 and aim to help keep 2 million girls in school by 2020,” he says.
Hatang admits that training for the climb has not been easy. “I have been using the Westcliff stairs and the Drakensberg for training. My colleagues have joined in and this has helped make it fun and bearable. I’m excited about the course and the impact it will have on the beneficiaries.”
Asked if Mandela Day has flourished around the country, he says: “Mandela Day has grown from the first year when it was hosted in two cities, Joburg and New York, to today where it is hosted in 126 countries.
“It has also grown in depth where people aren’t concentrating on oneday events but moving towards more developmental, sustainable activities. These range from people doing random acts of kindness to organisations that renovate schools and help plant vegetable gardens which can sustain families for a long time.”
To celebrate Mandela Day, the foundation will be working on four pillars: volunteerism, food security, shelter and education and literacy.
On the education and literary front, they joined forces this week with the Adopt-a-School initiative, the brainchild of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and a project of the Shanduka group.
The Back to School for a Day event takes place on Madiba’s birthday and encourages South Africans to get involved in making a meaningful difference to the country’s schools system.
Each year businesses and citizens are invited to go back to disadvantaged schools and help improve the physical environments where kids learn, grow and develop to their full potential.
Whether it’s painting the walls, planting food gardens or fixing broken furniture, this day is about South Africans lending a hand to make a dif- ference. Pupils are also exposed to career guidance programmes, debating workshops, literacy activities and motivational talks.
“The foundation sees enormous synergies with Adopt-a-School and feels the campaign is in line with their fundamental principles. We are delighted to give our full backing for the first time to this wonderful movement and encourage all South Africans to rally behind this initiative as we celebrate Mandela Day on July 18,” says Hatang. “The Mandela motto goes: take action, inspire change, make every day a Mandela Day. Education has always been a cause close to Tata’s heart and what better way to honour both his memory and his legacy.”
Adopt-a-School’s chairman, Ramaphosa, hopes its partnership with the NMF will result in more contributions being made to educating the country’s future leaders. One day of collective action can have a huge impact on our schools,” he says.