I am because we are
I HAVE become utterly enchanted with the idea of Ubuntu. Not the computer programming language, but the Southern African philosophy.
Ubuntu means humanity, togetherness and openness. I found these ideas vaguely interesting in the past but have found that I have been drawing on them more intensely during this pandemic and even more so now that Nottingham is in Tier Three with our community facing a tough winter.
Ubuntu reminds me of the value of having an infinitely teachable spirit. In the Ubuntu worldview, not knowing is not something to be feared. Not knowing is not the same as ignorance. This emphasises to me the power of humility, the benefit in learning from and listening to people who are different to me. I have found this so helpful when I have been trying to understand how people in Nottingham’s different communities are experiencing this pandemic. I am thinking of people with mental health issues, people in unsafe and unstable domestic situations, people in uncertain financial and job circumstances, modern slaves, people facing lockdown alone and far from their families.
Ubuntu encourages us to be empathetic and kind. It urges us to remember that we are all human, interconnected and fallible. One Ubuntu saying is “I am only human if you recognise (and act on) my humanity.” Treating each other with care and compassion is important.
Honesty and openness are key pillars of Ubuntu philosophy which is even written into the post-apartheid South African constitution as the basis of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Victims and perpetrators told the most awful truths so that the nation could forgive, heal and reconcile. I can see Ubuntu being useful in driving a period of reconciliation that is needed if our communities are to fully recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ubuntu encourages us to work and walk together. Another mantra that embodies the Ubuntu spirit is “I am because we are”. It is said that a traveller visiting an African village placed a basket of sweets under a tree. He said to children he was with, “Whoever gets to the tree first wins and gets the basket of sweets.” He watched, puzzled, as the children, held hands and ran, together, to the tree. When they all got there, they cheered, and shared the sweets equally. He asked why they. They replied: “How can any of us be happy if even one of us did not get any of the sweets?”
If we are to come out of this pandemic, we have to walk together and sometimes, carry each other.