People do good deeds as Mandela birthday gift

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Nelson Mandela's fans celebrated the anti-apartheid icon's 91st birthday Saturday by emulating him with good deeds, reading to the blind, distributing blankets to the homeless or refurbishing homes for AIDS orphans.

Mandela had called on people to spend time doing good Saturday, the first Mandela Day, which his charity foundations hope will be an annual event.

South Africans collected clothing for poor children, painted schools, planted trees near Mandela's boyhood home in eastern South Africa, and renovated a building in downtown Johannesburg for people left homeless by a fire.

Mandela stepped down after serving one term as president — the first black South African to hold the post. Since 1999, he has devoted himself to such causes as fighting AIDS and poverty and championing the rights of children.

At a Mandela Day concert in New York on Saturday, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Aretha Franklin and others are to perform for the benefit of Mandela's AIDS foundation.

Mandela Day organizers encouraged people around the world to devote at least a minute for each of the 67 years Mandela campaigned against apartheid to community service.

In Soweto, Thembekile "Prisca" Tshabalala invited community members to play with disabled children at her year-old Nkanyezi Stimulation park, a cheery playground with seesaws and swings designed to accommodate children in wheelchairs.

More than 50 parents, volunteers and children were there, among them Khumo Bojanyane, who owns a construction company.

"We were motivated by the man himself," said Bojanyane. "We're so encouraged by his life, by his selflessness and sacrifices."

A group of American tourists visiting a nearby museum in a home where Mandela once lived was moved to make a $300 donation to the Nkanyezi park.

"This is a very inspiring and moving, and happy birthday to Nelson Mandela," said one of the group, Mark Rosenberg of New York.

The center is named after Tshabalala's son Nkanyezi, who was born with cerebral palsy and died at the age of 11.

"I think my son would be very proud to see all the people here today," she said.