What is Ubuntu?

For those who have not heard about Ubuntu before let me share some definitions from different African countries.

   "Ubuntu" means "I am what I am because of who we all are." -Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee

 

 "Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu", means "a person is a person through other persons." – In Zulu, South-Africa

"Kali kokha nkanyama, tili awiri ntiwanthu", means 

"when you are on your own you are as good as an animal of the wild, when there are two of you, you form a community” – In Chichewa, Malawi

"Gira ubuntu" means "to have consideration and be humane towards others" -In Kinyarwanda,Rwanda / Kirundi, Burundi

 

  

"Obuntu bulamu" means "being humane" –In Luganda, Uganda

"Utu" meaning that "everything that was done was for the benefit of the whole community" –In Bantu, East Africa

"Umundu" stands for humanness or the act of being humane to other human beings and to nature in general. -In Nyanza provinces, Kenya

"Munhu munhu nekuda kwevanhu" To be human is to affirm one's humanity by recognizing the humanity of others and, on that basis, establish respectful human relations with them. -In Zimbabwe

  "One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu – the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness.  We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected.  -Desmond Tutu

 "All mankind is tied together; all life is interrelated, and we are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be, until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be, until I am what I ought to be." -Martin. L. King Jr.

"The poorest president in the world is living with 1000e per month"@Aamulehti

 "A traveller 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 enrich themselves. The question therefore is: Are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you to be able to improve?" -Nelson Mandela

 

Elizabeth Frawley Bagley discussed ubuntu in the context of American foreign policy and introduced Ubuntu Diplomacy: "Where all sectors belong as partners, where we all participate as stakeholders, and where we all succeed together, not incrementally but exponentially."

--> Here is a Ted-talk by Chris Abani telling about Nigeria and meaning of Ubuntu:
http://www.ted.com/talks/chris_abani_muses_on_humanity.html 



"THERE IS NO WAY FOR US TO BE HUMAN WITHOUT OTHER PEOPLE."
"NO MAN IS AN ISLAND." -John Donne-

                                    Photos: Niina Lisma & friends, Text source: Wikipedia

                                                                                                 -Niina Namaganda