Tag Archives: Cape Town

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Nelson Mandela: In His Own Words


Nelson Mandela Photo

As the world mourns Nelson Mandela, who will be laid to rest this Sunday, his own words serve as a powerful testimony to his life and legacy. Below are excerpts from some of his own writings and speeches:

“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” – Mandela’s statement to the Supreme Court of South Africa, facing charges of sabotage, April 1964

“My dearest Winnie, Your beautiful photo still stands about two feet above my left shoulder as I write this note. I dust it carefully every morning, for to do so gives me the pleasant feeling that I’m caressing you as in the old days. I even touch your nose with mine to recapture the electric current that used to flush through my blood whenever I did so. Nolitha stands on the table directly opposite me. How can my spirits ever be down when I enjoy the fond attentions of such wonderful ladies?” – Letter to his wife Winnie during his imprisonment, April 1976

“I stand here before you not as a prophet but as a humble servant of you, the people. Your tireless and heroic sacrifices have made it possible for me to be here today. I therefore place the remaining years of my life in your hands.” – From Mandela’s address after his release from prison, delivered in Cape Town, South Africa on February 11, 1990

Watch Mandela’s mini biography:

www.biography.com

“Today, all of us do, by our presence here, and by our celebrations in other parts of our country and the world, confer glory and hope to newborn liberty. Out of the experience of an extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud. Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity’s belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the human soul and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all.” – From Mandela’s statement to the President of the African National Congress at his Presidential Inauguration, May 1994

“Fellow citizens, I am greatly honoured to address you at the end of a remarkable year in the history of our nation and on the eve of a new year that is full of hope. 1994 will go down in history as an epoch-making year for the South African people, and indeed, for humanity as a whole. We are at the close of a year which saw the defeat of the apartheid system against which the entire world was united. Transparency and accountability have become norms in our new life. A national consensus has been forged on the policy to bring a better life for all South Africans.” – President Mandela’s New Year’s Day message to South Africans, December 30, 1994

EXPLORE NELSON MANDELA VIDEO LIBRARY

“Though the challenges of the present time for our country, our continent and the world, are greater than those we have already overcome, we face the future with confidence. We do so because, despite the difficulties and the tensions that confront us, there is in all of us the capacity to touch one another’s hearts across oceans and continents. The award with which you honour me today is an expression of the common humanity that binds us one person to another, nation to nation, and people of the North to people of the South. I receive it with pride, as a symbol of partnership for peace, prosperity and equity as we enter the new millennium.” – Address by President Mandela on receiving the Congressional Gold Medal in the United States, September 1998

Watch ‘Mandela: Working Towards Freedom’:

www.biography.com

“We are greatly honoured to join the millions around the globe congratulating you on taking office as the President of the United States of America. We believe that we are witnessing something truly historic not only in the political annals of your great nation, the United States of America, but of the world… We are in some ways reminded today of the excitement and enthusiasm in our own country at the time of our transition to democracy. People, not only in our country but around the world, were inspired to believe that through common human effort injustice can be overcome and that together a better life for all can be achieved. Your Presidency brings hope of new beginnings in the relations between nations, that the challenges we all face, be they economic, the environment, or in combating poverty or the search for peace, will be addressed with a new spirit of openness and accommodation.” – Mandela’s message at the Inauguration of President Obama, January 20, 2009

“I sincerely thank you for your support for Mandela Day. For all those who continue to give service in their own way, I thank you. We each, every one of us, can make an imprint.” – Mandela’s message in honor of the celebration of Mandela Day in the USA, July 2009

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Update on corrective rape — Note from Ndumi


Change.org
Join the global outcry against “corrective rape” in South Africa 

Sign the Petition

Several weeks ago, survivors of “corrective rape” — a heinous practice in South Africa where lesbians are raped under the guise of “curing” them — started a petition on Change.org to ask the Minister of Justice to declare corrective rape a hate crime.

It has since become the largest-ever petition on Change.org, and the Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Justice has repeatedly contacted us to complain that they are overwhelmed with the messages coming from every part of South Africa and every corner of the globe. But the minister still refuses to meet with the activists who started the campaign — Ndumi Funda and the women of the non-profit Lulekisizwe.

Ndumi asked us to pass the note below along to Change.org members. Take a look, then please add your name to their petition to keep up the pressure:

http://www.change.org/petitions/view/south_africa_declare_corrective_rape_a_hate-crime?alert_id=WBYbWJShPN_oTuENpBIcM&me=aa

___________

To Change.org members, editors and most of all to all of you who signed our petition,

We are GOBSMACKED at the response that our petition has received. Our fight against corrective-rape has been going on for so long, under the most harrowing of circumstances, with only a few volunteers to help, and it just seemed that nobody was listening, nobody cared, and our sisters were getting raped, beaten up and murdered without anyone doing anything about it.

In absolute frustration, we decided to write a petition. This was a first for us, and never in our wildest dreams did we imagine that we would get this kind of a response. We did jokingly say that we wanted to crash the Ministry of Justice’s servers, but we thought that our petition would get a thousand or so signatures if we were lucky. More than 65,000 signatures later, and the senior Ministry officials we targeted are apparently having major difficulty accessing their e-mail because of all the e-mails your signatures are generating! WOOOHOOOO! Well done & thank you!

If you haven’t already signed the ‘Corrective Rape‘ petition, please sign and share it with your friends:

http://change.org/petitions/view/south_africa_declare_corrective_rape_a_hate-crime

Unfortunately, despite this becoming the most popular petition of ALL TIME on Change.org, and clearly getting the attention of the minister, Lulekisizwe has still not heard a word from the Justice Department! We need a meeting with the Minister of Justice so we can discuss how ‘corrective rape’ victims are treated, the lack of police response, how long the court cases take, why so many of the dockets get ‘lost’ and why the rapists get out on such low bail. Please keep the pressure up!

Thanks to a donation from an ethical cosmetics company in the UK called Lush, we were able to get another, more secure place to stay and use as a safe-house for the victims, but the rapes and assaults are continuing. We are worn out and things are far from easy, especially at this time of the year when stress levels are very high.

The one thing that is giving us hope is all of you showing love and caring by signing and sharing the petition. We are thrilled, excited and very, very humbled by the support that every one of you have shown, and all we can say is thank you and please, please don’t stop. Ask your friends to sign our petition:

http://www.change.org/petitions/view/south_africa_declare_corrective_rape_a_hate-crime?alert_id=WBYbWJShPN_oTuENpBIcM&me=aa

Bless you all and have a great Festive Season,
Ndumi Funda & the Lulekisizwe team

 
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Curing lesbianism with rape?


Change.org

Join the global outcry against “corrective rape” in South Africa 

Sign the Petition

Earlier this year Millicent Gaika, a 30-year-old South African woman, was tied up, beaten, strangled, tortured and raped for five hours by a man as he screamed that he would “cure” Millicent of her lesbianism.

Ndumie Funda, a local community activist whose lesbian partner was murdered in the course of a similar “corrective rape,” reached out to Millicent through a small local charity she set up to rescue and support survivors of “corrective rape.” But last month they both had to go into hiding after the South African government released the perpetrator they had helped to jail on 60 rand (less than $10) bail.

Ndumie, Millicent and others decided to fight back against the rapists and the lack of accountability for their crimes. From a Cape Town safehouse for survivors of ‘corrective rape,’ the women created a petition on Change.org targeting South African Justice Minister Jeffrey Radebe.

Please, they wrote, declare ‘corrective rape’ a hate crime, which would both empower and require South African police to take a harder line on the vicious crime.

Click here to add your name to the petition.

More than 500 “corrective rapes” are reported in South Africa each year, and more than 30 South African lesbians have been murdered because of their sexuality over the past decade. Worse, for every 100 men charged with rape in South Africa, 96 of them walk free.

We can help here. Last year, South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority went on record refusing to formally declare ‘corrective rape’ a hate crime, saying “It is not something that the South African government has prioritized as a specific project.”

But with enough international pressure on the South African government, such heinous crimes might finally be taken seriously. More than 2,000 Change.org members have added their name to the petition created by Ndumie and Millicent. Click here to add yours:

http://www.change.org/petitions/view/south_africa_declare_corrective_rape_a_hate-crime?alert_id=SlPqUMmEGV_YugBiDLRru&me=aa

Thank you for taking action,

– The Change.org Team

P.S. Every time a new person signs the petition, the Justice Minister’s office automatically gets an email. So once you join, will you forward this to friends and family, and post on Facebook, so that they hear a global outcry?

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Stirring stories from Southern Africa


Here at Hands up holidays we are always trying to find new ways to help you make the world just that little bit better. So, one member of our team decided to investigate a fascinating project in Swaziland. Here is what he had to say:

“In Swaziland, I had the privilege of spending a week in a former mining town that is now being transformed.

The mine was shut down in 2001, and virtually the whole town was made jobless overnight. Many left, and the few that remained eked out a living until a remarkable Canadian donated his skills and energy to creating sustainable sources of employment for this community.

Fortunately the community is nestled amongst hills and valleys in an alpine-like setting, with wonderful hikes and mountain biking trails. So, tourism is set to play a significant role in his vision for providing the entire community with meaningful employment.

However, not content with just revitalizing a town, this energetic Canadian also has his sights set on improving the lives of 2000 orphans (many of these have been left without parents due to Swaziland’s dreadful AIDS crisis).

Growing this ambitious orphanage will take time, money and labor. So, prepare to roll up your sleeves and lend a hand anyway you can: building, painting and decorating. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to get stuck in and improve the lives of these children.”

Unfortunately, you can’t book this trip just yet, but when it is up and running you can easily combine it with a fabulous game viewing safari in nearby Kruger Park or the exclusive private concession of Sabi Sands.

Watch this space! – Or send us a note, if you would like to be notified when the trip goes live.

Heart warming story in Africa

Our Hands Up Holidays colleague then crossed the border into South Africa and also spent time with volunteer communities around Cape Town. Here is just one of his remarkable stories:

“I want to share with you some details of one other project that struck my heart: 14 months ago, Veena, Irene and Michael, were part of the long term unemployed, an issue that blights South Africa. They lived near each other, and heard about a project where they could learn organic gardening skills, so they took the initiative to find out more.

Upon completion of the training, they approached the local school, which agreed to lease them some land they were not using.

14 months later these three are now regularly saving money in the bank (they never even had the need for a bank account before), they are selling their produce to an organic supermarket, they are feeling so much healthier as they now eat properly, and they have discovered an amazing sense of purpose and fulfillment.

More importantly the message is spreading and they have inspired their neighbors to do the training and cultivate their tiny plots of land. These are now bursting with carrots, cabbages, spinach, peppers and herbs.

One woman, Gloria, insisted I take her photo with her cradling a bunch of silverbeet, much like we would treasure a bouquet of roses.”
Take part and see for yourself the changes that are happening in peoples’ lives …be the change!
Gloria proud of her silverbeet
Opportunities here include teaching, sports education, assisting at a dog and cat shelter or for those with medical skills, there are opportunities at a medical clinic.

The Holiday Season in late December/early January is a superb time to be in South Africa, and we would be delighted to prepare an itinerary for you that suits your exact requirements.

Travel trivia

We have all sat on a plane eating something that looks rather unappetizing and tastes rather bland. Well, a recent study in “Food Quality and Preference”, reported that it may not be entirely the airlines fault.

It seems that our sense of taste and crunchiness could be impaired by the “white noise” of the engines.