All over the world, from Japan to Brazil, individuals have been inspired to do something good on Mandela Day in honour of Nelson Mandela’s commitment to social justice.

This year, as Mr Mandela marked his 91st birthday, 46664 and the Nelson Mandela Foundation asked the world to take inspiration from South Africa’s former president and spend at least 67 minutes doing something good to make the world a better place.

In Niterói, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, a group of young English students at the Interface School decided to adopt Mandela Day as their project for the semester.

Beatriz Willcox, the school principal, says: “Interface is a language school where English is taught as a foreign language. We work for preschools, teaching English on a daily basis to kids and using language as a tool to teach cross-curriculum themes.”

Luciana Trouche, an English teacher at the academy, says: “Our English course brings culture and fresh news to our students. The minute we heard about Mandela Day, it had to be our project for the semester!”

The students, who range in age from three years old to adults, have been studying Mr Mandela and his role in the struggle for freedom for all South Africans as well as learning about the segregationist policies under the apartheid government from 1948 to 1994.

The students have also been listening to songs like Mandela Day, which Simple Minds wrote for the Free Mandela Concert held in London in 1988, and have had class debates on the importance of a free and democratic society.

The students have been involved in various projects on the topic, singing anti-apartheid songs, exploring the characteristics of heroes and icons as well as painting murals.

“By working with this amazing project we firmly believe that a little seed has been planted in our students’ hearts and we truly hope their future will be even better than our present time,” says Trouche.

Willcox says: “I believe education is not restricted to learning grammar, vocabulary, history, science and math. When you are in a classroom, in a leading role as a teacher, you are partly responsible for forming a student’s character and personality. We, more than anyone, want to prepare this generation to make a better world by showing them the amazing things which are being done inside and outside their country.”

46664 Communications and PR Manager Chantal Cuddumbey says: “I am constantly amazed at the impact that Mandela Day has made – even in countries where we were not active. This proves to me that this initiative to start a movement for good is something supported by many people around the world, and that our dream of a better world is entirely possible if we all work together.”

In December the school will be hosting a talent show at a local theatre and one of the main themes will be “People are all the same despite coming in all colours!”