by Irshad Salim, Karachi: Couple of years ago, the then Vice Chancellor of Balochistan Univ. of Info Tech. Engg. & Management Sciences (BUITEMS) Dr. Farooq Bazai –an NED alumnus, shared a motivational video clip titled, “I am because we are”. I related it with “Ubuntu”, an African story, and added it towards its end; shared it (video below) with many on the WhatsApp –my daily hangout for years, specially during and after Covid-19 when ‘stay home’ and ‘social distancing were the call signs.
Dr. Bazai thereafter, became another senior, prestigious member of the Back2School WhatsApp Forum which some of us started on January 1, 2020. The Forum since then has been like the Dreamliner’s cockpit carrying passengers with ideas, concepts, insightful conversations, intelligent discussions and, of course, arguments but sans the proverbial ‘pissing match’ tone and manner.
This morning, I bumped into ‘Ubuntu again on Facebook –with a pic of kids squatting on the ground in a circle, spreading their feet. As always said, a picture is worth a thousand words:
Sucran Genc explains the pic in her language which google translates into: An anthropologist working in Africa recommends the children of a tribe to play a game, and the prize for the first to reach the fruits he puts under the tree will be to eat those fruits. Tell them, “Come on, begin now! First place gets the prize! ”.
That moment all the kids run holding hands together. They arrive under the tree together and begin to eat the fruits together.
When an anthropologist asks why they do this, they give this answer:
“We have done the UBUNTU. If we had competed, there would have been a winner of the race. How can a person who wins the race eat the fruit when others are unhappy? Meanwhile we all ate making ubuntu. ”
They explain the meaning of that word:
UBUNTU: “I AM ‘I’ WHEN WE ARE”.
Isn’t the ‘Ubuntu’ African culture in essence about togetherness, about teamwork, collective sustainability, etc.? Surely it is, in my opinion. There’s room though for onion peeling the concept but kicking the onions around the room will smell then. No?
