Essay On Ubuntu

While it is true that the continent of Africa is a harsh place, I also know it to be a place whose people, animals and ecosystems teach us about a more interconnected world. Africa may hold the key to the survival of humanity. How fitting and appropriate that that the birthplace of the first human is also the birthplace of the philosophy that points the way toward a sustainable future.

I’m not talking about a new technology or a renewable energy. Not directly at least. I’m talking about a way of seeing the world and all its inhabitants that, if adopted by a critical mass of human beings, would have a major impact in our ability to work together and ultimately shift the context of what it means to be a human being living on Planet Earth.

The philosophy is simple. It doesn’t cost anyone a single dime. But it does require a massive shift in how we think about ourselves and how we see each other.

I’m talking about the philosophy called “Ubuntu,” which translated means “I am what I am, because of who we all are.” The word “Ubuntu” has its origins in the Bantu languages of southern Africa.

Nelson Mandela

It speaks of the fact that my humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in yours. It speaks about wholeness, it speaks about compassion. A person with Ubuntu is welcoming, hospitable, warm and generous, willing to share. Such people are open and available to others, willing to be vulnerable, affirming of others, do not feel threatened that others are able and good, for they have a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that they belong in a greater whole. They know that they are diminished when others are humiliated, diminished when others are oppressed, diminished when others are treated as if they were less than who they are. The quality of Ubuntu gives people resilience, enabling them to survive and emerge still human despite all efforts to dehumanize