18 July has been declared Nelson Mandela International Day, but as South Africans we embrace the chance to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s life for the whole of July, which is meant to honor the great legacy of Mandela and his values through community services and volunteering.

Longyuan Mulilo, an Independent Power Producer (IPP), owns and operates two wind power projects in De Aar, Northern Cape. The company honors the memory of Madiba through our investments into the education of our youth through our Bursary program, through the support to early childhood development centers in our communities, helping community old age homes to protect the dignity of our elders, supporting small business around our projects to help grow employment opportunities, and expanding access to primary healthcare with our mobile health clinics.

Just as local municipality said: “We are so blessed to have Longyuan Mulilo Wind Projects as a social partner over the previous years. We thank Longyuan Mulilo for all their effort and continuous support, the community and the municipality are very grateful for all the help.”

To date, Longyuan Mulilo has contributed around R150,000 to these beneficiaries, through providing equipment, upgrading of facilities, purchasing soccer kits, etc, in celebration of Mandela Month.

There is still much work to do – both to address the aftermath of this month’s events, and also to address the underlying socioeconomic issues that persists across our country. At Longyuan Mulilo, we commit to continue to undertake to the best of our ability to make a positive difference in the communities in which we operate. Further still, we encourage South Africans across the country to adopt the principle that we have at Longyuan Mulilo, where we endeavour to conduct ourselves as though every month is Madiba month, with every day existing as an opportunity to live out his legacy in a way that would make him proud.