In the spirit of International Nelson Mandela Day, take action and inspire change. If you don’t know how, read here for some ideas from the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

  1. Make a new friend. Get to know someone from a different cultural background. Only through mutual understanding can we rid our communities of intolerance and xenophobia.
  2. Read to someone who can’t. Visit a local home for the blind and open up a new world for someone else.
  3. Fix the potholes in your street or neighbourhood.
  4. Help out at the local animal shelter. Dogs without homes still need a walk and a bit of love.
  5. Find out from your local library if it has a story hour and offer to read during it.
  6. Get a group of people to each knit a square and make a blanket for someone in need.
  7. Volunteer at your police station or local faith-based organisation.
  8. Donate your skills!
  9. If you’re a builder, painter or handyman, help build, improve or repair someone’s home, the local school/nursery school, orphanage or clinic.
  10. Help someone to get his/her business off the ground.
  11. Build a Website for someone who needs one, or for a cause you think needs the support.
  12. Help someone get a job. Put together and print a CV for them, or help them with their interview skills.
  13. Mentor a school leaver or student in your field of expertise.
  14. Write to your area councillor about a problem in the area that requires attention, which you, in your personal capacity, are unable to attend to.
  15. Sponsor a group of learners to go to the theatre/zoo.
  16. Coach one of the extramural activities the school offers. You can also volunteer to coach an extramural activity the school doesn’t offer.
  17. Offer to provide tutoring in a school subject you are good at.
  18. Teach an adult literacy class.
  19. Get in touch with your local HIV organisations and find out how you can help.
  20. Help out at your local hospice, as staff members often need as much support as the patients.
  21. Many terminally ill people have no one to speak to. Take a little time to have a chat and bring some sunshine into their lives.
  22. Take someone you know, who can’t afford it, to get their eyes tested or their teeth checked.
  23. Buy a few blankets, or grab the ones you no longer need from home and give them to someone in need.
  24. Clean out your cupboard and donate the clothes and shoes you no longer wear to someone who needs them.
  25. Organise a bake sale, car wash or garage sale for charity and donate the proceeds.
  26. Volunteer at your local soup kitchen.
  27. If you play an musical instrument, visit your local old-age home and spend an hour playing for the residents and staff.
  28. Learn the story of someone older than you. Too often people forget that the elderly have a wealth of experience and wisdom and, more often than not, an interesting story to tell.
  29. Take an elderly person grocery shopping; they will appreciate your company and assistance.
  30. Organise to clean up your local park, river, beach, street, town square or sports grounds with a few friends. Our children deserve to grow up in a clean and healthy environment.

 

Source:
http://www.nelsonmandela.org/mandeladay/67_ways.html