Nkurenkuru pupils’ ubuntuness a good lesson to society

I am writing this article to compliment the initiative of ubuntuness that was carried out by the grade 10E learners of Nkurenkuru Combined School in the Kavango West region.

Upon viewing the audios in circulation from different platforms, I was left in a shocking and emotional state, and any human being would not sleep peacefully.

While thinking that it is the community and government’s obligation to look after its citizens through ubuntuness when one amongst us is in need, sometimes we have to put this blame on ourselves for failing ourselves and government efforts to help the needy when we are not at liberty of sharing information at hand.

I am very happy that our own children became whistleblowers and saw a need to help these women, which sends a strong message about our failure as citizens of the Kavango region by not embracing oneness and promoting love, care and harmony or ubuntuness.

The recent occasion where Nkurenkuru Combined School learners became the hand of mercy to the elderly woman living with a disability, who resides at Mayara village in the Kavango West, was not an ordinary occasion as we might think but a manifestation of faith and God’s command to humankind in practicality.

These initiatives left many of us with questions as to how our siblings think about such moves, looking at our current living standard, where kids are considered to like materialism most before thinking about their neighbours’ needs, which was not the case of this grade 10 learners at this school.

Surprisingly, after winning an inter tournament that was initiated by the school under the leadership of Sapetama Ngoma as the principal, they surprised the school management when they decided to donate the winning price to the elderly woman.

There is a saying in Rukwangali: ‘Siwayi sarongere nyime nondunge’, which translates that even a young person can advise an elder person – as was the case at Nkurenkuru Combined School.

There is a remarkable Biblical saying: ‘Let us love our neighbours as we love ourselves” (Matthew 22:39).

This was practised by these learners – and impressively, it is the fact that this agape love gesture is coming from learners who have no abundance of resources at their disposal, defeating our assumption as a society that you can only give when you have enough.

Often, we observe donations from multimillion companies, which demonstrates their social corporate responsibilities in the community; however, what makes Nkurenkuru Combined School learners and their management outstanding is its alignment to Proverb 19: 17.

Let me be assertive enough in this manner, and rebuke our community and business personnel, including our leaders, that our failure to respond to the needy in our regions is not only disgracing but it also sets a wrong precedent for the siblings we are raising as if our wealth is just for those living in our homesteads.

We should never forget that whatever is in our possession today belongs to God; He selected us to be generous to the needy.

Our failure to stretch our resources to the needy makes us bad managers (custodians) of what God has entrusted us with – and it will be hard for God to expand our business territories after failing that simple test.

Here is the question I wish to extend to all individuals: how have we managed the resources that God has bestowed upon us? Do we share with the needy as it was done by the Nkurenkuru learners and their teachers?

In our African context, our existence is only relevant if our neighbours can derive direct benefits.

I leave the opposite thereof for your introspection.

In life and all our success, it takes other people to take us where we want to be; caring for one another should not be an option but rather a command as per biblical provision.

In all due respect, I would wish the learners of Nkurenkuru Combined school for their wonderful support and even for reminding us about this good lesson to learn about, notwithstanding their school management and teachers who formed a committee and supplemented positively to the project when the collection of contribution from individual staffs was initiated.

They are as follows: EM Joy (class teacher), CK Muronga, H Sindere, PN Kangumbe and HK Hausiku.

This happening is indeed a reminder to all of us to learn to share the little we have, and it is also aimed at provoking our thoughts and consciousness of knowledge by leaving to the words of God and being helpful at all times.

The reaction from the school and that of the mayor of Nkurenkuru is also remarkable, but I await more from any good Samaritan to come on board by contacting their offices for any kind of donations.