[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In 1996 Nelson Mandela said, “… our rich and varied cultural heritage has a profound power to help build our new nation.”
Monday 24 September is National Heritage Day, a day for all of us to celebrate through sports, song, dance, braai’s, family get-togethers or taking the opportunity to visit significant historical sites and museums. It is also a time to reflect on the diversity within our culture which makes up our ‘rainbow nation’.
Mandela was stating that it is a day for each of us, not just one group, to celebrate the contribution all have made towards the building of the ‘New South Africa’.
In South Africa today that we build higher fences and roll-up our windows to keep ourselves safe. It can make conversations difficult and make the task of improving the lives of all South Africans difficult to achieve.
However, every one of us can make a difference. Nelson Mandela also said these words, “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”
One of the managers of a U-turn Charity Shop recently wrote about her journey through the U-turn program, which started when someone gave her a voucher. She finishes the article by saying, “Whoever you are, Mr. Stranger, the 30 seconds that you took to hand me that U-turn voucher, was all it took to start me on my journey of change. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, for allowing God to use you as the instrument that gave me my life back.”
Take the opportunity to think of how we can continue to foster unity and think of those who have little to celebrate.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]