Greetings and many Blessings to you Ladies,

Look at this! I have been reading this word in a book that I have been reading. It is a book by Dr Horace G. Campbell an Afrikan American social scientist. The book that I have been reading is called ‘Barack Obama and 21st Century Politics – A Revolutionary Moment in the USA’. I came across this the word Ubuntu. When I came to understand the meaning I was excited beyond containment. It gave me goose pimples. I researched the word further, speaking with people from the southern Afrika. Their explanation of the word tied up with what is explain below. Not only that, their curiosity about how I had come across this word showed the depth and importance that they attempted to convey to me. What I understood from that is Ubuntu is not just a word or philosophy it is also an experience and a way of being. It explains to some degree, the depth of a word that I could not find in the English language; a depth that needed to be expressed in the vision of the personal and public work we are embarking on for our whole community and people. Check it out sisters and feel it; tell me that it does not ring out to you.

Ubuntu [ ooo – boo – uun – tu ]

“Ubuntu is an ancient philosophy founded on the notion of communalism, (I am, because we are), driven by the attributes such as, truth, justice and compassion. This philosophy does not discriminate on the grounds of Race, economic affluence, social status or gender. It is a flow of life that is the same for every member of the Human Race. Ubuntu is not only tied to human life. It also concerns itself with respect for animals and the environment. The adoption so such a philosophy therefore seeks to create a balance between the self and others, as well as between the internal and external.” Definition written by Mamatshilo Motsei (2007) The Kanga and Kangaroo Court: Refelction on the rape Trial of Jacob Zuma, Jacana Media, Joannesburg.

UBUNTU is deeply rooted in the language of Southern tribes of Afrika and in particularly the Ngani tribes who can also be found in East Afrikan countries such as Tanzania and even the Congo in central Afrika and wider. The word can be found in many of the languages of the south, in Swazi, Zulu and Bantu.There is another word tied into the concept of Ubuntu, it is Unhu. But let’s have that discussion later. See below for other explainations

MY PROPOSAL IS: that this word is who we are and who we as a movement for our people aspire to become – we are PEOPLE of UBUNTU (UBUNTU WOMEN) - I call to you to adopt this as the label and spirit for our movement and bring the spirit of Ubuntu into our communities and everything that is our and that we represent. It will be our mantra and the mantra of many to come. How healthy is it?

Many Blessings and all grace is with you,
Much love your sister,
Jennifer

For your further information: Below I had added some further definitions found on Wikipedia, offered in talks by: Peace activist Leymah Gbowee; Nelson Mandela; Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Judge Colin Lamont; Tim Jackon – very powerful

Respect to Ancient Afrikan philosophy (the future contribution to healthier world perspectives).

Ubuntu: "I am what I am because of who we all are." (From a translation offered by Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee.)

Archbishop Desmond Tutu offered a definition in a 1999 book:[3]

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.

Tutu further explained Ubuntu in 2008:[4]

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. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality – Ubuntu – you are known for your generosity.

We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.

Nelson Mandela explained Ubuntu as follows:[5]

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?

Tim Jackson refers to Ubuntu as a philosophy that supports the changes he says are necessary to create a future that is economically and environmentally sustainable.[6]

Judge Colin Lamont expanded on the definition during his ruling on the hate speech trial of Julius Malema [7]:

Ubuntu is recognised as being an important source of law within the context of strained or broken relationships amongst individuals or communities and as an aid for providing remedies which contribute towards more mutually acceptable remedies for the parties in such cases. Ubuntu is a concept which:

1. is to be contrasted with vengeance;
2. dictates that a high value be placed on the life of a human being;
3. is inextricably linked to the values of and which places a high premium on dignity, compassion, humaneness and respect for humanity of another;
4. dictates a shift from confrontation to mediation and conciliation;
5. dictates good attitudes and shared concern;
6. favours the re-establishment of harmony in the relationship between parties and that such harmony should restore the dignity of the plaintiff without ruining the defendant;
7. favours restorative rather than retributive justice;
8. operates in a direction favouring reconciliation rather than estrangement of disputants;
9. works towards sensitising a disputant or a defendant in litigation to the hurtful impact of his actions to the other party and towards changing such conduct rather than merely punishing the disputant;
10. promotes mutual understanding rather than punishment;
11. favours face-to-face encounters of disputants with a view to facilitating differences being resolved rather than conflict and victory for the most powerful;
12. favours civility and civilised dialogue premised on mutual tolerance