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The concept of ubuntu is driven by an acknowledgement that an individual is raised by a community and therefore has complex and meaningful connections with such a community and therefore has a responsibility of taking care of this community in a humble, respectful and authentic manner. The driving principle of ubuntu is the following community statement:
“I am fully me because of my community”
Usually it is expected for the communities not to talk too much about ubuntu but to apply ubuntu. Talking about ubuntu was seen as being fake and cheap and seen as a foreign concept. It is expected for people to just implement it. The unfortunate development though was the erosion of Ubuntu principles which have defined the African people. Ubuntu is not a South African phenomenon but an African practice that has similarities to other practices that are adopted by other communities elsewhere in the world. The core of ubuntu includes the following values:.
- Humility in everything we do.
- Dignity as an important characteristic of everything we do or say.
- Respect for each other irrespective of age, gender or race.
- Inter-dependence in each other as we will always need each other.
- To be selfless in things we do as material possessions and money are also know as root cause for animosity and evil.
- To be genuinely warm to others in everything we do.
- Modesty and friendliness as the most important aspects of interaction. Friendliness is seen with genuine smiles and not the disrespecting grins that people do at times. That grin is totally unacceptable.
The communities have ubuntu because it has been part of the communities since the beginning. It defines the African communities. If properly applied ubuntu is a set of personal investments in relationships with exponentially increasing return on investments to the individuals and to the community. If you and the community invest properly in these investments, the returns far exceeds the financial benefits in that it creates a set of very strong bonds in the community. If properly applied the financial benefits become a byproduct of proper application of ubuntu. After-all the financial benefits are material
entrapments that have made greedy monsters from decent human beings. With proper application of ubuntu, one would never be corrupted by the material gains or shortage as the philosophy of ubuntu is driven by the fact that every individual is important and special with or without any financial or material strength. We may differ in the levels of importance but we are all special and have a role to play in society and therefore must be respected and appreciated.
An attempt at a longer definition has been made by Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1999):
“A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed”
Taken verbatim from Wikipedia on the 27th Sept 08
In the same website Nelson Mandela continues and says:
“A traveler through a country would stop at a village and he didn't have to ask for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food, entertain him. That is one aspect of Ubuntu but it will have various aspects. Ubuntu does not mean that people should not address themselves. The question therefore is: Are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you to be able to improve?”
Ubuntu does not mean one neglects one’s ambitions to be successful and amass material possessions. It means in the path to this success one can adopt this powerful philosophy which would deliver the highest level of personal fulfillments. This way the wealth will have a more powerful meaning and will remain for many generations to come.
Additional questions to ask yourself about Ubuntu are:
- Why do we have Ubuntu?
- How can you practice Ubuntu?
- When do you practice Ubuntu?
- Who should practice Ubuntu?
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