If there is a human attribute that can transform our response to Corona-related societal woes, it is ubuntu (oo-boon-too). In his book, God has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time , Archbishop Desmond Tutu explains that in the traditional African worldview, a person with ubuntu was someone with attributes of generosity, hospitality, warmth, compassion and the willingness to share and care.
To be told that “You have ubuntu ” was high praise. It was a compliment that meant you truly understood that we need other human beings to be human; that you recognised that “I am because we are”, that a “person is a person through other persons”; that you valued human beings for their intrinsic worth, and not for external markers of wealth, status, ambition, race, gender or creed; that you perceived the world as one big human family thriving on loving mutuality and interdependence; and above all, you were someone who cared deeply for the well-being of others, not just your own, and were willing to go the extra mile for your human family.
Inside out
In these challenging times, when the world is in the throes of a deathly pandemic, what we need more than ever is to unlock our innate ubuntu and put it into practice, to realise that our humanity is unmistakably bound up with that of others; that we must look out not only for our near and dear ones but also for those separated from us by six degrees, or more. And we must do this not out of pity or charity, but out of a sense of shared humanity.
In his book, Tutu asks, “Would you let your brother’s or sister’s family, your relatives, eke out a miserable existence in poverty? Would you let them go hungry? ...How I pray that in our world we can learn to emulate a true family.”
To alleviate such suffering in the current lockdown, persons with ubuntu would act out of the love and care a family has for its own; they would feel the humiliation and hunger of the stranded migrants, the loneliness of the elderly who are without company; the fatigue and fears of the frontline nurses and doctors; the anxiety of the students stuck on campus; the depression of that friend of a friend who lost her job; and the inhibition of that old single aunt to ask for help.
It is important to recognise that each one of us can act out of ubuntu and reach out with love and empathy to those around us. We could cook extra meals for watchmen and migrant families in our area; support our domestic staff, drivers and gardeners with money transfers or prepare essential ration kits with vegetables and groceries, dairy and toiletries that can sustain them. We could help arrange an ambulance or offer our cars if residents of the nearby basti or our own neighbours need to rush someone to hospital.
Common humanity
We could encourage our children and students to organise simple and creative online fundraisers; or give our time, resources or money to government departments and civil society organisations engaged in tireless relief work. We could commit to calling and conversing with elderly grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends who have lost their jobs, or others in need of cheering and encouragement. In this way, we would walk towards what Tutu calls ‘our common humanity’ and hopefully pave the way for a more empathetic future.
I am compelled to share the story of ‘common humanity’ behind ubuntu , a story that has often done the rounds of the Internet, but is worth repeating nevertheless.
An anthropologist, who was studying an African community, prepared a beautiful basket of fruits and left it under a tree. He then asked the children from the village to stand ready behind a line, and fetch the basket as soon as he signalled ‘go’. The understanding was that the first to reach the basket would win the hamper. To his great surprise, when he signalled ‘go!’ the children instinctively held each other’s hands and ran towards the basket — together! Then, under the tree, they enjoyed eating the fruits — together! When asked why they did that, a little girl answered with a question: “How can any one of us be happy when the others are sad?” Years later, Tutu explained ubuntu (or ‘I am because we are’) as the philosophy behind the girl’s answer.
Today, during the pandemic, it’s this philosophy that might bring us out of the collective distress that we are in.
The writer is a Delhi-based educator and social policy analyst.
