The South African team decided to dedicate 67 minutes of their time to the late Nelson Mandela by hosting a cricket camp at Colombo for visually impaired children during their ongoing Test series against Sri Lanka.
“Hopefully we can pass our knowledge and have some fun with them. [We are] carrying on the legacy of Mandela and what he believed in sport as a way of the future and for the younger generation in order to live a healthy life,” said South African pacer Kyle Abbott.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela, who passed away on 5th December, 2013, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and is remembered for his struggle against the colonial and apartheid rule in South Africa, which discriminated against the non-white South African population. The United Nations officially declared his birthday, which falls on 18th July, as Mandela Day.
Mandela Day is meant to be celebrated as a day of service for humanity, in which the Nelson Mandela Foundation calls for every individual all over the world to devote 67 minutes of their time to social service, the time period of which signifies the 67 years of Mandela’s life that were devoted to mankind.