Birthday boy Mandela entertains disabled kids at huge birthday
Birthday boy Mandela entertains disabled kids at huge birthday party
HILTON, South Africa (AFP): President Nelson Mandela yesterday turned entertainer to celebrate his 78th birthday and treated 2,000 disabled children to a party they will never forget.
The president, grandson Mbuso at his side, spent most of the morning in a big top where the children, who were brought from around the country to Hilton College -- a private school in the heart of KwaZulu-Natal province -- were given a special performance by Boswell-Wilkie Circus.
Aside from jugglers, clowns, trapeze artists and acrobats, special performances were given by a group of disabled children, who sang for the president, and a troupe of deaf dancers, who perform through use of vibrations.
Mandela, whose birthday was on Thursday, beamed with delight and enthusiastically applauded each act.
Animal acts were limited to performing horses and a lone elephant, as organizers said creatures such as lions and alligators may have frightened some of the children.
On his arrival by helicopter at the school earlier yesterday, Mandela was greeted by hundreds of cheering children, many of them in wheelchairs or on crutches but still managing to clutch their balloons.
Before getting into a golf cart to tour the sprawling wooded school grounds, Mandela, standing in front of a disused slave bell, told them that he and their parents "and the whole country love you very very much."
On an adjoining sports field, meanwhile, choirs, live bands and poets entertained children who could not squeeze into the big top. Others spent the time contesting sports such as volleyball, basketball and gymnastics.
Mandela, by far the most loved leader in South Africa's history, stopped frequently to chat to children in wheelchairs, their parents and some of the thousands of people who attended the celebration.
To one teenager who told the president she planned to study medicine, Mandela replied: "That is very good. It means I will live to a very old age because I'll be cared for by a very fine doctor."
The birthday boy, wearing one of the colorful silk shirts that have become his trademark, declined the offer of a ride in one of two hot air balloons plying the skies with groups of children on board.
Preferring to keep his feet on the ground, he was quite happy instead to jive with a group of traditional Zulu dancers or, even more happily, walk hand in hand with his grandson.
The highlight of the day scheduled for later in the afternoon is what the organizers have billed "birthday cake time" when Mandela will cut a special 100 kilogram two-tiered cake, complete with 78 candles while the children sing happy birthday to him.
The president's own charity, the Nelson Mandela Childrens' Fund, spent more than a million rand (US$226,000) on gifts for the young partygoers, including a sleeping bag for each child.
The fund also donated 400 new wheelchairs to the physically disabled children, some of whom have never owned one before.
Private companies also donated sweets, toys and other gifts to the children.