Today, on Mandela Day, people globally are following in Madiba’s footsteps by dedicating 67 minutes to help make the world a better place, one step at a time. Flowstars are joining them.
We asked Flowstars what they would be doing on Mandela Day this year and discovered that they have been thinking out of the box, judging by their interesting contributions.
“I donated blankets to the homeless,” says Flow graphic designer Elmarie Nel. “It’s winter and people on the streets are really feeling it, so that’s why I chose this activity. It’s the least I can do to help.” The donations went to Dlala Nje, a place of safety and education, and a cultural centre at the base of the Ponte tower for children living in the inner city. Elmarie also spent yesterday, the day before Mandela Day, painting the faces of the children receiving the blankets.
Head of Flow PR Caroline Smith says, “I want to make every day a Mandela Day, so I try every day to do something that I think Madiba would have admired.” The way Caroline goes about this ranges from “just listening to a point of view that I may not have considered before” to “confronting prejudice and racism in my community through the two to three hours a week that I donate to the Dependable Strengths Foundation”.
In keeping with this year’s Mandela Day theme of food security, executive assistant Renata Haywood has decided to make sandwiches and hand them out to people on street corners. “It's cold and I feel really sorry for the people with no food, especially the children,” she explains.
Senior writer and subeditor Libby Peacock plans on spending 67 minutes making and donating sleeping bags for Johannesburg's homeless from newspaper, industrial plastic and other lightweight materials.
Kevin Collins, a Flow strategist, also believes in making every day Mandela Day. He says, “This Mandela Day I will be doing what I try to do every day of the year, but with extra-special attention to engaging with at least 10 people. I will strike up a conversation with another South African stranger (not one of the people I see daily at work or at my usual haunts) and ask them what they think we can do to improve relations between the people of our country. It's very rewarding and humbling to hear the passion and optimism in so many individuals.”
Collective efforts by Flowstars, in collaboration with our clients, reached an all-time high this Mandela Day campaign. On Sunday, Flow once again covered the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, delivered by Bill Gates on behalf of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
Adopt-a-School is making waves with its Back to School for a Day initiative, and project manager Angela Blake and her team have worked tirelessly to ensure that the campaign is a success.
On Thursday 14 July, Flowstars Roshni Nana, Carina van Wyk and Camilla Kohlmeyer joined our wonderful clients, Gauteng Tourism Authority, the SAB World of Beer and City Sightseeing, in early Mandela Day service by setting up soup kitchens at some of Joburg’s major tourist attractions.
Christine Tworeck, general manager of City Sightseeing Johannesburg, says it was great to see all the open-top bus tours' stops pull together to treat the citizens of Jozi to “a hearty cup of soup”. The day showed that “Jozi really is the golden heart of Gauteng and also South Africa”, she adds.
In addition to the teams and individual Flowstars who are giving back on Mandela Day, we are also banding together to coordinate Flow’s biggest blood drive to date on Friday 22 July at our offices in Rosebank. We started this initiative, which takes place every quarter, three years ago. If you are interested in joining us, email maria@flowsa.com.
Flowstars are quick to lend a helping hand, and we hope we are doing Madiba's legacy proud through our efforts.
