For close to three years we’ve dedicated many long hours to the 46664 Bangle project – and we’ve done our best to keep promoting the good work of this inspiring initiative in support of the 46664 campaign of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

It requires consistent focus for a Blog to be interesting and useful, and we’re no longer able to maintain a regular blog feed for the 46664 Bangle on this particular web site.

This blog is rich with content on Madiba, 46664, the 46664 Bangle, news from the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and many humanitarian and HIV AIDS-related stories and updates.  Feel free to browse our archives and enjoy the wealth of information!

We’re active on Facebook and Twitter – please do join our conversations there and talk to others about this great initiative; encouraging others to buy a 46664 Bangle.

Also … remember Nelson Mandela Day – not only on July 18, which is Nelson Mandela’s birthday – but consider what you can do every day, in honor of Madiba’s service to humanity and his legacy of social justice.

Thank you for your continued support!

Head of the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s Memory Programme, Verne Harris, spoke recently on the subject “Madiba, Memory and the Work of Justice” at the 18th Alan Paton Lecture.

Harris has also recommended Hugh Lewin’s new book, Stones against the Mirror: Friendship in the Time of the South African Struggle, one of several new autobiographies and biographies about the South African struggle.  

Lewin’s book is described as, “exemplary… offers a sustained reflection on memory and evidence, and confronts the inevitable fictional fashioning which informs any and every work of narrating the past.” 

Source: The Nelson Mandela Foundation

Is Madiba tweeting? Well, not quite, but the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory is happy to announce that they have secured “@NelsonMandela” as their official Twitter identity.

The Twitter account had been registered by an online consultant in the UK, who was happy to hand over the name to the centre. More details here.

Watch out for more social media activity from the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, through their official Facebook, YouTube and Flickr profiles – all excellent places to keep up to date with information about Living the Legacy of Nelson Mandela.

The Zenani Mandela Road Safety Scholarship was launched this week to focus on road safety, in memory of Nelson Mandela’s great-granddaughter, who was tragically killed in a car crash last year.

Launching the Zenani Mandela Road Safety Scholarship, Zoleka Mandela said, “A crash robbed me of my daughter, a beautiful, bright 13-year-old who was full of energy and hope for the future.

“I will never recover from this, nor will my family. Parents and families should not have to be put through tragedies like this. All too often they are. My heart is already broken, but what makes this even worse is that so often road accidents are preventable.

“We must all support the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety – our children’s lives are at stake.”

The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory is appealing to the public to assist in finding missing information to accompany many photographs in their collection.

Photo courtesy of the Nelson Mandela Foundation

Over the years, they’ve received many photographs taken of Nelson Mandela and now they need details of those occasions so that they can archive them accurately.

 “We are asking the public to help build this resource which will be richer when we have more information. It is also so that the public can feel they are part of this,” said communications manager, Sello Hatang.

Recognize yourself in any of these photographs? Contact the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory at nmf@nelsonmandela.org and help complete the picture.

At first, the Nelson Mandela Foundation created an einvornment for discussing the issue of HIV AIDS, and the social and cultural implications of combating this disease in South Africa. The discussions allowed people to come together and openly discuss their fears, the prejudices they encountered, and their thoughts on what steps to take to prevent HIV AIDS in their communities.

It wasn’t long before the Nelson Mandela Foundation recognized that these structured conversations were also an excellent way of approaching the topic of xenophobia, and addressing the violence that broke out in South African townships in 2008. Trained facilitators conducted community conversations to “get to the root causes of the attacks” and these social cohesion dialogs soon became a platform for reconciliation and healing.

Read more about the newly-published social cohesion booklet and download case studies on the day to day struggles of foreigners in South Africa and how to heal communities.

Source: The Nelson Mandela Foundation

The Nelson Mandela Fundation plans to launch a clothing range in August to raise funds and promote Mandela’s humanitarian legacy. Nelson Mandela Foundation CEO and 46664 board member, Achmat Dangor, said it could no longer depend on philanthropy to fund awareness-raising and projects like Nelson Mandela Day.

“46664 needs reliable and sustainable income streams, something we believe the 46664 apparel can significantly contribute to,” he said.

“There’s resistance to commercialisation of Mandela,” he continued, however, “We will not use Madiba’s image or name in any of our merchandise… we will use his legacy, what he stands for…we do not need to use his face,” Dangor said. The only logos or slogans featured would be the number ’46664′ and the image of an outstretched hand – reminding pepole of the 46664 saying,”It’s In Our Hands”.

Like the 46664 Bangle project (the bracelet engraved with Nelson Mandela’s hand and his prisoner number), when you buy 46664 clothing you are investing in a process that will help spread the legacy of Nelson Mandela by supporting the long-term sustainability of 46664. As Achmat Dangor says, “You will also be empowering young people in communities out there and creating a platform for global change.”

Source: The Nelson Mandela Foundation and the 46664 Campaign.