Nelson Mandela International Day
18 July 2026 — 67 minutes of good: let us plant a sapling of light!
Nelson Mandela was born on 18 July 1918, and every year this date is marked as Nelson Mandela International Day. The UN General Assembly established it by a resolution in November 2009, and it was first observed in 2010. The day honours Mandela's contribution to peace, freedom and the struggle against racial division in South Africa. It is dedicated to volunteering and to the idea that everyone can help make the world a little better. That is why people are asked to give 67 minutes to good deeds, one minute for each year Mandela devoted to public service. People help in their communities, clean parks, donate or teach others. The day is observed on a fixed date. 18 July falls in midsummer in the Northern Hemisphere and midwinter in the Southern Hemisphere, where Mandela's homeland lies. So a clock of stars drifts across the sky, its saplings a reminder that small deeds grow.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver clock made of luminous dots and fine lines, like a constellation drifting across the sky, with 67 minute marks on its face
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