Through donations and volunteer efforts like the 67 Minutes for Mandela, a farm school that started in a cowshed in the 1960s has transformed into a centre for academic excellence with a well-resourced library and computer and science laboratories that the principal says has put it on par with its suburban counterparts.
On Mandela Day, the ECDC was one of the structures on the premises that was given a lick of fresh paint. The architecture makes it stand out like a beacon on the school grounds. In no time, volunteers and kind sponsors built combi-courts. A lot of the corporate sponsors that put their money where their mouths are, in a manner of speaking, were associated with President Cyril Ramaphosa, like AngloGold Ashanti, McDonald’s, Shanduka and now the foundation carrying his name. Steven Lebere, executive director of Adopt-A-School Foundation says their Back To School For A Day initiative has gone beyond just being an annual day of action.
Celebrities Maps Maponyane and Oros Mampofu and beauty queens gave of their time to do physical work as part of their 67 Minutes.