Nelson Mandela is said to be in good health as he approaches his 93rd Birthday tomorrow.

The Department of Education is hoping to have over 12 million pupils sing a special Happy Birthday to him tomorrow (Monday 18th July 2011) at 8.05 am (South African time being an hour ahead of UK time).

Although many SA schools open tomorrow for their third term, the department is hoping that the song will be sung first thing in the morning.
For the music and lyrics, please go www.education.gov.za  where you will find other relevant information about the curriculum and campaigns for the year ahead.

Nelson Mandela is asking every citizen in the world to give 67 minutes of their time to improve the lives of others in his birthday week, since he gave 67 years of his life to fighting for freedom.  Many many South Africans are responding to this with a wide range of activities launched in Capetown over this weekend, with regards to the Western Cape.

A very interesting recent initiative is LEAD SA www.leadsa.co.za which encourages all South Africans to make a difference to their country in whatever way.  On the website you will find the "Long Walk for Rhinos", akin to Nelson Mandela's Long Walk for Freedom, where two men have been walking from Messina destined for Cape Point this coming Wednesday to raise the profile of the endangered rhino.

Tomorrow, on Mandela's 93rd Birthday, they will take the 9 am ferry to Robben Island and give a motivational talk to an Afri Twin school, Robben Island Primary. I will be going over to join them, along with 10 primary school children from Grassy Park and three teachers.  This is a wonderful opportunity for children who have not been to visit Robben Island before. Afri Twin is sponsoring white T shirts for them to do artwork about the rhino campaign which we will showcase on our website afterwards.

Afri Twin held another successful Conference this February 2011 - we have the entire day recorded on DVD which is available from our UK office for 20 pounds inclusive of postage & packaging. Please email if you wish to order a copy.

There is definitely a Reciprocal Visit grant application available to apply for by the 1st November 2011 for all new Afri Twin schools. Please do prepare for it if you have not had an exchange yet, and advise us as you develop the application to assist you.

We wish our UK schools a very very happy and restful summer vacation!.....