Every year, Mandela Day asks one small thing of us: 67 minutes of your time, given to someone else.
And every year, we happily lose count.
Mandela Day has always meant a great deal to us at Zip Zap. In 1995, a group of our young performers were invited to Madiba’s 77th birthday, and when the show was over he asked to meet every one of the children, and told them to “keep up the good work”. Three decades later, that memory still stays with us.
Madiba once said that the true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children. I think about that often. It is why we believe that circus can open doors most people never think to look for, and that any young person, given the space to try, can find the courage to dream bigger.
That belief took us to three different corners of Cape Town this Mandela Day.
A morning at Red Cross Children’s Hospital
Our morning began at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, alongside the French South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Our performers put on a show for the children, their families and the staff, and the children received a goodie bag the Chamber and its members had thoughtfully prepared.
For a little while, the worry lifted from each person, and there was nothing but laughter. When we looked up at the windows above, children who were too unwell to come down had pressed close to the glass, waving and cheering the acrobats on. Not one of them was left out.
Across the city with Red Rocket Energy
Across the city, the team at Red Rocket Energy gave their Mandela Day to us in more ways than one. They spent their morning making juggling balls for us, and then they gave not once, but twice: a wonderfully generous donation from Red Rocket Energy itself, and a second, raised by the team between themselves. Some of the team even bought juggling balls of their own to take home.
When a company chooses to give, it makes a real difference. When the people inside it choose to give again, of their own accord, that is something special. We are grateful, twice over.
An afternoon at our Academy
By the afternoon, our Academy was alive again. Teams from eXp Realty and the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation rolled up their sleeves and made juggling balls with us.
We were joined, too, by the extraordinary Natalie du Toit: Paralympic champion, Laureus Ambassador, and the first amputee ever to qualify for the Olympic Games. Her message to our young people was simple: hold on to hope, always believe, and never, ever give up. “We all face challenges, she said, but if you want something enough and give it your best, you will get there.
It all comes back to the young people
And here is the part I love most: Every juggling ball made will be sold at Full Tilt, our show this September, with every cent going straight back into keeping our programmes free for young people.
Three corners of the city. All of it adding up to the same thing: a young person, discovering what they are capable of.
That is the good work. And just as Madiba asked, we intend to keep it up.
Laurence Estève
Co-Founder & CEO
