Pack a pencil, pen, ruler and eraser into a pencil bag – in under 67 seconds. No mean feat. But that’s what the employees and partners of law firm Adams & Adams accomplished today in celebration of struggle icon Nelson Mandela’s birthday.

A total of 700 pencil bags were packed through the firm’s '67 Seconds' initiative. 

The recipients of the activity are the children of the Bana Ba Kgosi Feeding Scheme in Shoshanguve – the firm’s Corporate Social Investment beneficiary. Through the scheme Adams & Adams feeds 700 children, many of whom are orphaned or vulnerable, with a meal each day. 

“Nelson Mandela was renowned for his strong beliefs on education and how it can change the world,” says Nishan Singh, partner at Adams & Adams. “The majority of children who drop in at the feeding scheme from the various schools in the area are unable to afford stationery. Our '67 Seconds' project is aimed at providing the children with items that we hope will make a difference to the way they experience their education.

“Nelson Mandela has become an indelible part of the global conscious. Nelson Mandela Day not only celebrates his remarkable life but is a call to action for us to respond positively to those around us. The day also urges us to welcome the values that Mandela lived by.  Adams & Adams embraces the tenets of freedom, democracy, equality, respect and reconciliation and diversity which he fought so hard for.”