Nelson Mandela: 67 ways to change the world in 67 minutes

Geoff Herbert | By Geoff Herbert | The Post-Standard
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on July 18, 2011 at 8:49 AM, updated July 18, 2011 at 9:23 AM
ne_071811_nelson_mandela.jpgIn this hand out photograph supplied by Peter Morey Photographic for the Mandela family, showing former South Africa president Nelson Mandela, center, with family members left to right Zaziwe Manaway, Ziphokazi Manaway, Zamaswazi Dlamini and Zamak Obiri at Mandela's hometown in Qunu, South Africa, Sunday July 17, 2011. Mandela celebrates his 93rd birthday Monday July 18, 2011. Center back is Mandela's daughter Princess Zenani Dlamini.

To celebrate Nelson Mandela's 93rd birthday Monday, the former South African president is asking people around the world to donate their time to public service.

CNN reports a group of multiracial, multilingual motorcycle riders known as "Bikers for Mandela Day" have been riding throughout South Africa the past week. In one of their seven community service projects, the bikers stopped in the small town of Harrismith to paint a children's orphanage.

"For Madiba (Mandela), it demonstrates to him that people are passionate about his legacy," Mandela's personal assistant Zelda la Grange said.

Though South Africa doesn't officially recognize the holiday, the United Nations has been supporting Nelson Mandela International Day on July 18 since 2009. According to CBS, people throughout the world are encouraged to spend at least 67 minutes of their time helping others in recognition of Mandela's 67 years of public service.

Here are 67 ways Mandela's website suggests people can "change the world":
1. Make a new friend. Get to know someone from a different cultural background.
2. Read to someone who can't at a local home for the blind.
3. Fix the potholes in your street or neighborhood.
6. Offer to take an elderly neighbor who can't drive to do their shopping/chores.
7. Organize a litter cleanup day in your area.
9. Volunteer at your police station or local faith-based organization.
10. Donate your skills!
14. Help someone get a job.
16. Write to your area councilor about a problem in the area that requires attention.
18. Get in touch with your local HIV organizations and find out how you can help.
20. Take time to visit terminally ill people and bring some sunshine into their lives.
21. Talk to your friends and family about HIV.
25. Donate some medical supplies to a local community clinic.
27. Bake something for a support group of your choice.
31. Offer to help out at your local school.
32. Mentor a student in your field of expertise.
33. Coach extramural activities at the school.
35. Donate your old computer.
36. Help maintain the sports fields.
38. Donate a bag of art supplies.
39. Teach an adult literacy class.
40. Paint classrooms and school buildings.
42. Give blankets you no longer need to someone in need.
43. Donate clothes you no longer wear to someone who needs them.
44. Put together food parcels for a needy family.
45. Organize a bake sale, car wash or garage sale for charity and donate the proceeds.
46. Donate shoes you don't wear.
47. Volunteer at your local soup kitchen.
48. Help at a local children's home or orphanage.
49. Help the kids with their studies.
50. Organize a friendly game of soccer, or sponsor the kids to watch a game at the local stadium.
51. Coach a sports team and make new friends.
52. Donate sporting equipment to a children's shelter.
53. Donate educational toys and books to a children's home.
54. Paint or repair an orphanage or youth center.
55. Mentor someone.
57. Learn the story of someone older than you.
61. If there are no recycling centers in your area, petition to provide one.
62. Donate indigenous trees to beautify neighborhoods in poorer areas.
63. Collect old newspapers from a school/community center/hospital and take them to a recycling center.
65. Organize groups that you work with to switch off all unnecessary lights and power supplies at night and on weekends.
67. Organize to clean up your local park, river, beach, street, town square or sports grounds.

Mandela, who was imprisoned for 27 years for his efforts to end South Africa's apartheid regime, was freed in 1990 and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

» The Guardian: Nelson Mandela serenaded by schoolchildren for 93rd birthday