July 3, 2026
67 Minutes for Mandela: How One Choice Can Change a Generation
On 18 July each year, the world marks Nelson Mandela International Day with a simple but profound request: give 67 minutes of your time to the service of others. Sixty-seven minutes for 67 years of Madiba's public life. Sixty-seven minutes to honour a man who gave everything.
At Vuka Africa Youth Hub, we have one question for this Mandela Month: what if those 67 minutes went to a young African who has been waiting their whole life for someone to believe in them?
The Weight of 67 Minutes
Sixty-seven minutes does not sound like much. It is the length of a commute, a lunch break, a meeting that could have been an email. But inside our Empowerment Hub in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe, 67 minutes looks like this:
- A young woman completes her first module in our EmpowerLab digital skills programme and discovers she is faster than she thought.
- A young man receives one-to-one interview coaching through EmpowerYouth and walks out with his shoulders a little higher.
- A survivor of gender-based violence sits with one of our Survivor Pathways counsellors in South Africa and begins, for the first time, to imagine a future that belongs to her.
Sixty-seven minutes. Compounded across a week, a month, a year, it becomes a career. A livelihood. A life rebuilt.
Thelma's 67 Minutes
In May 2025, Thelma, a 29-year-old woman from Zimbabwe, walked into the ZimDev Empowerment Hub in Chitungwiza for basic digital skills training. She had heard about the programme through a community contact and came with modest expectations: learn a few computer basics, maybe update her CV.
She stayed.
Over the following weeks, she attended CV-writing workshops and interview etiquette sessions with our EmpowerYouth team. She practised. She prepared. And then, four months after walking through our doors, she was promoted to Pharmacy Manager at Boetis Pharmacy Chain.
The system at Boetis uses a computerised POS, and on a day-to-day basis my learnings helped me grasp concepts easily, which is why I was promoted. I am forever grateful for a stepping stone into my career.
A stepping stone. That is how Thelma describes what we gave her. Not a handout. Not a shortcut. A stepping stone. That is exactly what Vuka Africa is built to provide.
Who We Serve
Vuka Africa Youth Hub is a Pan-African youth movement clearing pathways for marginalised and vulnerable young people across South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia. We work with:
- Young people not in employment, education or training.
- Survivors of and those affected by gender-based violence and femicide.
- Young women, men and LGBTQI youth facing marginalisation of any kind.
- Young people locked out of digital skills, quality education and sustainable livelihoods.
- Young parents and their children, through our early childhood development work.
Our two programme pathways, the Empowerment Hub model and Survivor Pathways, are designed to meet young people where they are, in the communities where they live, with services integrated and centred on their dignity.
What Your 67 Minutes Can Do
This Mandela Month, we are inviting you to walk with us. Here is what your 67 minutes could mean:
Enrol a young person
If you know a young person aged 18 to 35 who is not in employment, education or training in South Africa, Zimbabwe or Zambia, refer them to our programmes.
Volunteer a skill
We are always looking for coaches, mentors, trainers, counsellors and professionals of every kind. If you have 67 minutes of expertise to give, we have a young person who needs it.
Partner with us
If your company or organisation is looking for a meaningful Mandela Day activation and a lasting CSR partnership, we want to hear from you. We are currently expanding across Harare, building capacity in South Africa and preparing for our Zambia launch in 2027.
Rise. Skill up. Lead.
This Mandela Month, give 67 minutes to a young African who has been waiting for someone to believe in them.