Bhambayi Project is challenging South Africans to use Mandela Day to truly understand their fellow South Africans by living on just R10 for the day!
South Africa (14 July 2020) – The Bhambayi Project’s Mandela Day campaign, #itstartswithme, centres around encouraging South Africans to honour Nelson Mandela on 18th July, by simply honouring others. By many South Africans doing this, the drivers of this initiative hope to ignite a culture of honour’ across our country.
The challenge has three core areas and fellow South Africans can focus on one of these, or all three, on Mandela Day this year. Firstly to honour everyone that one comes into contact with or even simply thinks about on the day, secondly to spend 67 minutes on “Honour Reflection” where one would think about how you can honour those whom you have previously judged (or perhaps those who have judged you), and thirdly to live on less than R10 a day to show deeper respect and understanding for those less privileged than yourself. Participants are encouraged to give away the amount they save to an organisation that transforming lives.
The Bhambayi Project is a registered non-profit organisation that empowers orphans and vulnerable children. Their #itstartswithme campaign is it not a fundraising initiative for Bhambayi Project, but rather something to raise awareness of the importance of relationships and honouring others, which is a key component of their core operational model.
This form of participation on Mandela Day can prove more powerful than anything else. By acknowledging another human for all they are, their goodness and their struggle a real bond is formed. From that, a relationship can grow where understanding can happen and in the end, transformation!
In South Africa, poverty is rife, as is crime and many other negatives that we see in the media every day. With more people working to form relationships and understanding of their fellow South Africans, the power to truly address these issues falls into the hands of citizens, where the impact could be greatest!
So if you want to do something for Mandela Day that isn’t a cash donation; maybe this is the task for you! We love this idea and hope to see it blossom in our rainbow nation!
If you chose to live on R10 for the day, Bhambayi has a resource sheet for you to follow. It will explain what you can eat and how to spend your day. They hope that the amount you don’t spend that day, you donate to a cause close to your heart. You can find out more via their Facebook page here.