Reflecting on Mandela Day

According to the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Nelson Mandela International Day was launched in recognition of Nelson Mandela’s birthday on July 18, 2009 via unanimous decision of the UN General Assembly. The day “was inspired by a call Nelson Mandela made a year earlier, for the next generation to take on the burden of leadership in addressing the world’s social injustices when he said that “it is in your hands now”. It is more than a celebration of Madiba’s life and legacy; it is a global movement to honour his life’s work and to change the world for the better.”

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” – Nelson Mandela

This past Sunday, July 18, as the world recognized Nelson Mandela International Day, his words above remain as relevant now as they were when he first spoke them. The United Nations explains the meaning behind Mandela Day: “Everyone has the ability and the responsibility to change the world for the better. If each one of us heeds the call, we simply need to do something good every day. This way, we can live out Nelson Mandela’s legacy.”

The key message here is that everyone has a role to play and everyone has to do their part whether through volunteering, advocating, fundraising, donating (time, money, goods, services), lobbying, mentoring, educating, etc. Every little bit counts and no matter how small, your contribution counts.

This message really resonates with us at KFC as we aim to feed people’s potential to fight inequality. This effort includes initiatives both big and small that provide things like access to skill building to strengthen equality, access to opportunities to sustain communities, and access to food to stop hunger. Around the world, our markets, franchise partners, and employees and doing their part to act, inspire and affect positive change in their communities. There is still much work to be done, but we couldn’t be prouder of these efforts.