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Tag: Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory

  • Nelson Mandela: Stable but Critical

    Nelson Mandela: Stable but Critical

    “The health of the former President remains much the same … which is stable but critical while Madiba continues to respond to treatment.”

    That was the crux of today’s update from the South African government. The announcement followed President Jacob Zuma’s visit to Mandela’s home, where the former President has been recovering since being released from the hospital in September.

    While the South African government has said little about Mandela’s condition, citing the need for privacy, his family members have disclosed information on several occasions.

    Mandela’s ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela told the Sunday Independent that he “remains quite ill.” She said that he is unable to speak due to tubes in his mouth that are clearing fluid from his lungs. “The bedroom … is like an ICU ward.”

    Madela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela has also spoken to the press about his grandfather’s medical condition. After visiting on Sunday, he said that Mandela “is still progressing steadily but very much under a critical condition.”

    Mandela has been receiving intensive home care since being released from a Pretoria hospital on September 1. He was originally hospitalized for a lung infection, a condition that has plagued him for years and is thought to stem from time spent in damp concrete cells during his 27-year prison sentence that lasted from the early 1960s to the late 1980s.

    Other theories postulate that Mandela’s lungs were damaged while working in a lime quarry at the Robben Island prison, where he served 18 years of his sentence under notoriously poor conditions.

    At one point during his imprisonment, Mandela contracted tuberculosis.

    The South African government’s update on Mandela’s health coincides with the opening of the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, official home of the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg.

    In his speech at today’s opening ceremony, President Zuma paid Mandela highest regards:

    “Housed at this Centre are some of the most important heritage resources that chronicle the life and times of our founding father – and icon – of our democratic nation, Tata Nelson Mandela. These resources are an integral part of our nation’s heritage, in particular our liberation heritage. They are our nation’s treasures and they indeed need to be preserved.”

    Post by Nelson Mandela.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Charlize Theron Tweets Support for Nelson Mandela

    Nelson Mandela is reportedly still in critical condition in Pretoria, South Africa. The South African civil rights leader and former president is 94 and has been battling a severe lung infection since March.

    As Mandela was receiving a visit from U.S. President Barack Obama, another famous South African was sending her well-wishes via social media. Actress Charlize Theron on Saturday tweeted out support for Mandela, saying, “Keeping Madiba in my thoughts.” Madiba refers to Mandela’s clan name, the use of which is an honorific in South Africa.

    Theron was born in Benoni, South Africa. She began her career as a model and actress in the early 90s, eventually gaining American citizenship in 2007. Though she is best known for her roles in movies such as Monster and The Italian Job, she has also founded the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP) to battle against the spread of AIDS in Africa.

    (Image courtesy Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons)

  • Google Helps Make Nelson Mandela Digital Archive a Reality

    A partnership between the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory (NMCM) and the Google Cultural Institute has brought forth an extensive digital archive of Nelson Mandela’s life. The archive covers Mandela from his early life, to his decades in prison, his presidency, and his later years as a statesman.

    One year ago, Google announced on its Africa blog that it would donate $1.25 Million dollars to the NMCM to help preserve its archives in digital form.

    Today on the Google Official Blog it was announced that the archive was finally online. The post said that Google had worked closely with the NMCM to create an inspiring interactive experience.

    The entrance to the archive is split into seven sections: My Moment with a Legend, Early Life, Prison Years, Presidential Years, retirement, Books for Mandela, and Young People.

    The My Moment with a Legend section is a series of recollections in which Mandela meets with celebrities and ‘ordinary people’ alike. Books for Mandela contains information on books that have been given to Mandela as gifts over the years. The Young People section shows Mandela engaging children and describes his easy rapport with them.

    Other, similar initiatives from Google include the Art Project, which aims to digitize works from museums around the world; digitization of the Dead Sea Scrolls; and digitizing the Yad Vashem Holocaust materials. These and other projects can be browsed at the Google Cultural Institue page.