In 2008, Nelson Mandela called on the next generation to take a leadership role in addressing the world’s social injustices when he said that “it is in your hands now”. A year later, in recognition of his birthday, Mandela Day became an international movement honoured across the globe. The 18th of July is a celebration of his inspirational legacy and is a call for people to join hands and make a positive change in the lives of others in need.
To commemorate Mandela Day this year, we volunteered 67 minutes of our time at [highlight]The Domino Foundation[/highlight], which is conveniently located a short kilometre away from our office in Durban North.
The Domino Foundation is a non-profit organisation that provides essential programmes to meet the needs of the vulnerable and impoverished in the North Durban local communities. It is in their mantra that helping just one person can lead to a changed life, a changed family, and consequentially a changed community. This is the Domino effect.
On this special day, they had three stations available for eager volunteers to get involved. We enthusiastically chose to test our kitchen skills and make soup! We gathered our soup-making ingredients before our arrival and quickly put our hands to work making a delicious lentil, potato, and carrot soup. The soup we made was then bundled into relief hampers for struggling families to enjoy.
With only an hour to prep and finish a big ol’ pot of soup, the pressure was on. Our first task was to chop the vegetables as quickly as possible so they could sauté together in one pot. Garlic, onions, and potatoes – you name it and we probably chopped it! As we were chopping away, it was soon apparent who reigned the master chef of WildWeb and which of us should stick to our day jobs. In all honesty, we all should stick to [highlight]web design, blogging, and digital marketing[/highlight] and leave the cutting boards, blenders, and aprons to the ladies and gentlemen who do it best.
With that being said, we had a fantastic time partnering with The Domino Foundation and learning how each programme sector makes a direct impact on our local community; not only on Mandela Day, but every day of the year. To put their good work into perspective, the organisation’s [highlight]feeding programme[/highlight] serves 4,500 meals each day to struggling families and hungry children in local schools and crèches. To say that’s an impressive feat is an understatement.
It was an honour spending the day with The Domino Foundation and the rest of the volunteers. We look forward to testing our kitchen skills next year and continuing the Domino effect at WildWeb for many Mandela Days to come!
