The multi-site Museum is situated at Mvezo (where he was born), Qunu (to where he has retired) and Mthatha … literally in the footsteps of Mr Mandela.

The Museum’s six-month-long birthday programme includes the launches of three important historical-cultural installations:

• Dear Mrs Parks…Dear Mr Mandela: Children’s Letters, Global Lessons, celebrating the lives of Mr Mandela and US civil rights icon Rosa Parks, will be launched in partnership with the Michigan State University Museum and Keeper of the Word Foundation, in Qunu, in July.
• The Making of Mr Nelson Mandela – created in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Apartheid Museum – will be launched at the Apartheid Museum in or around September.
• The Meaning of Nelson Mandela and Chief Albert Luthuli, a tribute to the lives of two South African Nobel Peace Laureates, will be launched in Qunu, in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation and Albert Luthuli Museum.

• A youth choir competition, in partnership with the Department of Education and Government of Lower Saxony;
• A colloquium, Celebrating Nelson Mandela’s 90 Years, at the University of Fort Hare;
• A seminar celebrating the 90th birthdays of Nelson Mandela and Albertina Sisulu, in Mthatha;
• A youth football tournament in Mthatha; and
• A “Heroes Marathon”, to be run from Qunu to Walter Sisulu University.

“Mr Mandela’s gift to the world is one of unbridled commitment to the principles of human rights, freedom, peace and democracy. It is these values that we have tried to highlight in the birthday celebration programme,” said chairman of the Nelson Mandela Museum council, Professor Kader Asmal.

“Against the backdrop of our country’s experience of racism and prejudice, and the recent expression of intolerance towards our African brothers and sisters, the celebration of this milestone in Mr Mandela’s life is particularly important this year. It allows us to put into perspective once more the significance of a life lived for the ideal of our common humanity and for the importance of nurturing peace and dialogue across those issues that divide us.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with Michigan State University to present, ‘Dear Mrs Parks…Dear Mr Mandela: Children’s Letters, Global Lessons’. Through the letters of children the exhibition raises public consciousness of the parallels in the struggles for equality and justice in the United States and South Africa,” Professor Asmal said.

Rosa Parks, known as the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement, famously refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus to a white man in 1955 — the same year that representatives of the people of South Africa gathered to formulate the Freedom Charter in Kliptown, Johannesburg.

Professor Asmal said it was fitting that Mr Mandela’s birthday was celebrated around the world, but particularly in the area where he was raised and has retired to – in a province that nurtured a generation of leaders who rose to prominence in South Africa and on the world stage.

“We hope that the questions raised in the children’s letters – inquiring of two international icons how best to use the lessons learned on their journeys – will inspire the next generation to become responsible global citizens.”

“The Nelson Mandela Museum is already an important regional cultural tourism destination. We want to ensure that as many learners as possible will benefit from exposure to this valuable resource,” he said.