Pedestrians crossing the Mandela Bridge in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on Thursday afternoon, were pleasantly surprised when they found scarves hanging on the bridge for their taking.

The scarves were hung by the Foundation 67Bankets in different areas along Jan Smuts Avenue for anyone who needed one. At first many of the pedestrians looked uncertain but once they discovered that they could take a free scarf if they needed, there was no holding them back.

Carolyn Steyn, the founder of 67Blankets says she got the idea from seeing something similar being done in America. Then about four weeks ago, she sent out a message to the 67blankets teams to ask them to start making scarves in between knitting blankets.

About 3000 scarves were completed and hung along certain different parts of the country, 200 of those were hung on the Mandela Bridge. Many of them were taken within a few minutes of being hung. 

The initiative is part of the Mandela Month celebrations. Steyn says she did not want to wait for Mandela Day, July 18, because every day should be a Mandela Day.

"People are already cold. I'm sure Nelson Mandela would not have waited for a certain day to help them," says Steyn. She says in addition to helping those who are cold , they really just wanted to brighten up people's day.

Source:SABC