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.