On Saturday, 16 July 2022, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund launched the Children’s Fun Walk as part of the Children’s Fund’s 27th Annual Children’s Celebration.
This year, on Saturday, 15 July 2023, the Children’s Fun Walk will leave from the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital – 6 Jubilee Road, Parktown, Johannesburg – at 08h00, walk past the offices of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, and enter the Johannesburg Zoo, for a day of fun activities planned as part of the 28th Annual Nelson Mandela Children’s Celebration.
The Nelson Mandela Children’s Celebration is a tradition of the Fund, started by its founder, former president, Mr Nelson Mandela, who celebrated his birthday with children, during and post his presidency. The walk is a build-up activity to 18th July – the day is now famously known as International Mandela Day which was President Mandela’s real birthday.
CEO of the Fund, Dr Linda Ncube-Nkomo, says: “The Nelson Mandela Children’s Celebration allows us to bring joy and celebrate children, and to let them know that we love and appreciate them, in spite of the many challenges that they face in their little lives and in our country.
The theme of the event: Gone but not forgotten – The Legacy in Action – celebrates the work of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund – in South Africa and our affiliates around the world as a global advocate for children’s rights; we celebrate Madiba’s love of children and his desire to change the way society treats children.
In addition, the greatest achievement in the Fund’s 28 years in existence, is its flagship project, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital which celebrated 6 years of existence last month.
This year, we have opened the walk to members of the public and their families, in limited numbers, to engage with and interact with our beneficiaries of the Fund and Hospital.
For members of the public that are not in Johannesburg, they can still get involved by visiting our website and contributing in various ways to Mandela Day, by spreading the word or helping us raise in-kind and cash donations which form part of our wish-list at https://www.nelsonmandelachildrensfund.com – these will then be distributed to our various implementing partners for children in need across South Africa,” concludes Ncube-Nkomo.
Nedbank has been a key partner of the Fund since its inception and will once again support the organisation as the underwriting sponsor of the event. Mr Tobie Badenhorst, Head of Group Sponsorships and Cause Marketing at Nedbank says, “supporting such an initiative really makes a difference in the well-being of children in South Africa. For the public to join such a worthy cause, all they need to do is, simply bank and invest with Nedbank by opening and funding a Nedbank Children’s Affinity linked savings or investment account, and we will donate the earnings to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund on their behalf, at no cost.”
The Fund will continue celebrations throughout the year to commemorate the 10th year since our Founder’s passing, and how we continue his legacy through our work, worldwide!
For more details visit www.nelsonmandelachildrenfund.com
