Good works mark Mandela's birthday

People took part in projects reading to the blind, distributing blankets to the homeless or refurbishing homes for Aids orphans.

Mandela had called on people to spend time doing good on Saturday, the first Mandela Day, which his charity foundation hopes will be an annual event.

South Africans collected clothing for poor children, painted schools, planted trees near Mandela's boyhood home in eastern South Africa, and renovated a building in downtown Johannesburg for people left homeless by a fire.

Mandela stepped down after serving one term as president -- the first black South African to hold the post. Since 1999, he has devoted himself to such causes as fighting Aids and poverty and championing the rights of children.

Mandela Day organisers encouraged people around the world to devote at least a minute for each of the 67 years Mandela campaigned against apartheid to community service.

Many of the projects celebrating Mandela Day in South Africa underlined how much work remains to be done in a country proud of ending apartheid peacefully, but plagued by poverty, stubborn inequalities, and Aids -- some 5.2 million South Africans were living with HIV last year -- more than in any other country in the world.

President Jacob Zuma, the current leader of Mandela's African National Congress party, paid a birthday visit to Mandela at his home in Johannesburg.

In recent years, an increasingly frail Mandela has largely retired from public life and stressed that if his legacy is to live, others must take up his causes. His Mandela Foundation, which houses some of his archives and supports community building projects, has switched from a logo featuring his face to one featuring his hands, reflecting his desire to shift the focus from himself to the work ahead.

"It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it," Mandela said in a message endorsing Mandela Day. "Our struggle for freedom and justice was a collective effort. Mandela Day is no different."