Birthday boy Mandela entertains disabled kids at huge birthday
\nparty<\/p>\n
HILTON, South Africa (AFP): President Nelson Mandela yesterday
\nturned entertainer to celebrate his 78th birthday and treated
\n2,000 disabled children to a party they will never forget.<\/p>\n
The president, grandson Mbuso at his side, spent most of the
\nmorning in a big top where the children, who were brought from
\naround the country to Hilton College -- a private school in the
\nheart of KwaZulu-Natal province -- were given a special
\nperformance by Boswell-Wilkie Circus.<\/p>\n
Aside from jugglers, clowns, trapeze artists and acrobats,
\nspecial performances were given by a group of disabled children,
\nwho sang for the president, and a troupe of deaf dancers, who
\nperform through use of vibrations.<\/p>\n
Mandela, whose birthday was on Thursday, beamed with delight
\nand enthusiastically applauded each act.<\/p>\n
Animal acts were limited to performing horses and a lone
\nelephant, as organizers said creatures such as lions and
\nalligators may have frightened some of the children.<\/p>\n
On his arrival by helicopter at the school earlier yesterday,
\nMandela was greeted by hundreds of cheering children, many of
\nthem in wheelchairs or on crutches but still managing to clutch
\ntheir balloons.<\/p>\n
Before getting into a golf cart to tour the sprawling wooded
\nschool grounds, Mandela, standing in front of a disused slave
\nbell, told them that he and their parents \"and the whole country
\nlove you very very much.\"<\/p>\n
On an adjoining sports field, meanwhile, choirs, live bands
\nand poets entertained children who could not squeeze into the big
\ntop. Others spent the time contesting sports such as volleyball,
\nbasketball and gymnastics.<\/p>\n
Mandela, by far the most loved leader in South Africa's
\nhistory, stopped frequently to chat to children in wheelchairs,
\ntheir parents and some of the thousands of people who attended
\nthe celebration.<\/p>\n
To one teenager who told the president she planned to study
\nmedicine, Mandela replied: \"That is very good. It means I will
\nlive to a very old age because I'll be cared for by a very fine
\ndoctor.\"<\/p>\n
The birthday boy, wearing one of the colorful silk shirts that
\nhave become his trademark, declined the offer of a ride in one of
\ntwo hot air balloons plying the skies with groups of children on
\nboard.<\/p>\n
Preferring to keep his feet on the ground, he was quite happy
\ninstead to jive with a group of traditional Zulu dancers or, even
\nmore happily, walk hand in hand with his grandson.<\/p>\n
The highlight of the day scheduled for later in the afternoon
\nis what the organizers have billed \"birthday cake time\" when
\nMandela will cut a special 100 kilogram two-tiered cake, complete
\nwith 78 candles while the children sing happy birthday to him.<\/p>\n
The president's own charity, the Nelson Mandela Childrens'
\nFund, spent more than a million rand (US$226,000) on gifts for
\nthe young partygoers, including a sleeping bag for each child.<\/p>\n
The fund also donated 400 new wheelchairs to the physically
\ndisabled children, some of whom have never owned one before.<\/p>\n
Private companies also donated sweets, toys and other gifts to
\nthe children.<\/p>",
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