The AT&T company has been selected by the Nelson Mandela Foundation to provide a tollfree telephone service in the United States and Canada for the organisation’s ”46664: Give 1 minute of your life to Aids” campaign.
Becky Mosehle, general manager of AT&T South Africa, on Tuesday said the number 46664 was former president Mandela’s prison number for over 18 years.
She said in order to raise awareness of HIV/Aids and to raise funds for the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the 46664 organisers had set up a donation line with recorded messages from an array of celebrities including Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Robert De Niro, Pink, Shakira and Britney Spears.
Callers were asked to make a small donation and to register their concerns about the spread of HIV/Aids.
Mosehle said AT&T’s tollfree service was chosen because it could handle up to 20,000 donations at one time. ”The service provides a simple way for 46664 to collect donations for the Nelson Mandela Foundation to fight HIV/Aids at a reasonable cost.”
The campaign will be launched with a concert on Saturday at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town with artists such as Bono of U2, Queen, Anastacia, Beyonce, Dave Stewart and Youssou N’Dour.
The concert is expected to reach a worldwide audience of two-billion people in 166 countries and will be broadcast on MTV’s Staying Alive and BBC’s World Service on December 1, World Aids Day. – Sapa