PHILADELPHIA--Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the popular South African leader and former wife of Nelson Mandela, made appeals for help for her country's children a major theme of a mini-tour that included several speaking engagements. She also paid tribute to women who have fought oppression and sexism.

The 66-year-old member of South Africa's Parliament and head of the African National Congress' Women's League was warmly received in the city and surrounding areas April 7-14.

Speaking at Benjamin Franklin High School, "the Mother of South Africa," stressed April 10 that beyond financial investment, Africa needs those willing to invest in its children.

Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela encouraged her audience of students from area schools to contribute at least "one book" and to ask parents and teachers to ship old computers to South Africa.

The centralization of educational materials for white children under apartheid and current limited resources for Black South African children leave schools ill equipped to provide a basic education, she explained.

"Teachers have to improvise artificially those necessary instruments (of education). You are fortunate enough to have access to (these) because you belong to an older democracy," said Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela, whose visit was sponsored by the Philadelphia Congress of the National Political Congress of Black Women.

At Philadelphia's Community College, she told students, "Often we do not appreciate the power we have. The power to change any system of government lays within yourself."

And the only reason "you are not able to do that is because you have not explored that within yourself," Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela added. Her tour ended at Lincoln University, one of America's oldest historical Black schools. Lincoln University has graduated some of the 20th Century's greatest historical figures including, Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, and the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshal.

Philadelphia Congress vice chair Tahiya Nyahuma, who served as coordinator of the tour, recounted how Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela was brutally tortured, placed in solitary confinement for 18 months, and banned for fighting apartheid. She also kept Nelson Mandela's name and plight "alive" during his over a quarter century imprisonment, Ms. Nyahuma added.

At the Philadelphia Congress' 15th annual "Splendid Weekend luncheon," Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela interacted with such notable women as Coretta Scott King, former lawmaker Shirley Chisholm, and civil rights leader Dr. Dorothy Height. The event honors Black women who have made a major contribution to "the onward progress of humanity," organizers said.

During her remarks, Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela saluted "all those Black women who succeeded in making it in a white world, overcoming all obstacles, wading through the humiliation and indignity in their path."

That theme was echoed throughout the tour as Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela lauded the accomplishments of Black women. "If you are a Black women and you have a 'big jaw' (are outspoken) you have to pay a very heavy price," she told students and faculty at Lincoln.

Her experience is akin to those of Black women in America and the Caribbean women and other women of color who "have been relegated to the least of the human pie," said Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela.

Though critical of male leadership, the African freedom fighter praised the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam for his work. Why "do we need to have a Farrakhan travel all over the world (and) to South Africa for us to remember that we are ex-slaves and that we have been so oppressed?" she asked, referencing Min Farrakhan's World Friendship Tour during a program at the historic "Mother Bethel" church, built by AME church founder Richard Allen built three centuries ago.

Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela shared the podium with Min. Akbar Muhammad, International Representative of the Nation of Islam. Min. Muhammad told the audience that though Africa was robbed by Europe for "500 years ... as a continent it is still minerally rich and still has enough wealth to rebuild America and Europe."