Representatives of the United States Consulate General in Cape Town, the Michigan State University Museum and the Nelson Mandela Museum (NMM), officially unveiled a new exhibition at NMM’s Bhunga building site in Mthatha, last week.
The updated “Dear Mr Mandela, Dear Mrs Parks: Children’s Letters, Global Lessons” exhibition, has been funded by a grant from the United States Consulate General.
The grant was utilised to update the popular travelling exhibition, which was created in 2008 by the NMM, in partnership with the Michigan State University Museum, to honour Mandela’s 90th birthday.
The original version of the exhibition had been touring to museums and cultural venues in South Africa and there is a waiting list for the new, refreshed version.
The Nelson Mandela Museum council chairperson, Nomvuselelo Songelwa, said there were some letters that were written by children to American civil rights pioneer, Rosa Parks, and to Mandela, appreciating their work.
Songelwa added that they were showing an appreciation for what the two leaders had done for the two countries.
“These letters were written more than five years ago. They were written by the children of this country and overseas.
“Now we are doing that exhibition which is a renewed exhibition. We have taken extracts of those letters,” said Songelwa.
She said NMM liked to celebrate the past and make sure that they remind people about the role and the legacy that Mandela and Parks played.
Songelwa added that now they were saying to the children of this country it was their time; they should stand up, and they must know that they are standing because of other people who fought for them. “We are saying the choices that our youth is making today are very important; all the countries are having their own challenges, but it is up to the choices the youth take. It is our responsibility as adults to talk to our children and they (children) should listen to us. They must know that the future depends on them when we are all gone.”
According to her, youth could keep on writing these letters and drop them in the box that is in NMM. She said the management of this facility has a responsibility to review them so that this exhibition could keep on functioning all the time.
The granddaughter of Nelson Mandela, Ndileka Mandela, said they were happy about this initiative. She said this is every important because her grandfather was a person who liked education and traditions.
“The letters that were written by these children showed clearly that even though he was in prison, it was easy for children to reach him. When they wrote to him it showed that there were things they wanted from him even though he was in prison. As the family we see that there are some good lessons that children leant from him,” said Mandela.
She added that in order to go forward it is important to know where people are coming from; so museums are one of those places that keep the history.
A grade 10 learner, Siyo Sinoxolo from Nelson Mandela School of Science and Technology, said they had learnt a lot from this day. “We will make sure that we keep the legacy of Tata alive at all times,” she said.
