Nelson Mandela Accepts Honorary Chairmanship of Africare

Africare
Tuesday, 15 September 1998

South African President Nelson R. Mandela has accepted the position of Honorary Chairman of the Board of Africare, the organization announced today.

"I regard Africare as one of America's greatest gifts to Africa," President Mandela said in declaring his acceptance. "Your work, in every corner of our great continent, has sustained our own commitment to building a strong and free Africa."

Released from jail in 1990, after 27 years as a political prisoner of the South African apartheid regime, Mandela was elected the first president of a free South Africa in April 1994.

In December 1992, with the opening of its field office in Johannesburg, Africare became one of the first U.S.-based assistance organizations on the ground in South Africa.

From the United States, however, Africare had been working to advance progress in South Africa for many years through the South Africa Career Development Internship (CDI) Program. From 1989 to 1996, the program placed more than 400 black South Africans in professional internships in the United States. The interns gained experience and expertise that would have been denied to them under the apartheid system at home. Most returned to South Africa, and many became the first blacks in mid- and high-level jobs in their fields.

Another innovative program, Training for Governance in the New South Africa, from 1994 through 1996 gave practical training and technical assistance in democratic governance to more than 200 South African officials and electoral candidates -- thereby supporting the political transition of the nation.

During the late 1990s, Africare/South Africa has supported business development, especially among the once-disenfranchised rural poor. Countless individual enterprises as well as communities have received private-sector development assistance from Africare. A major project is supporting agricultural enterprise development in the KwaZulu-Natal and Northern provinces. In 1997, Africare opened the first "digital village" -- a community-based computer-training center -- in the South African township of Soweto. Four more digital villages have opened since, with additional centers planned for future years. Rural health, and especially HIV/AIDS prevention, have been continuing priorities of Africare/South Africa.

President Mandela received Africare's Bishop John T. Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award at the Africare Bishop Walker Dinner -- Africare's annual benefit event -- during his first state visit to Washington, D.C., in October 1994.

The Honorary Chairman of Africare is always an African leader.

For more information, or to contact Africare, see their website at: www.africare.org