The foundation
Ubuntu: I am because we are
Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu: a person is a person through other persons. Our humanity is not something we hold alone. We receive it from one another, and give it back.
A way of being
Ubuntu is more than kindness. It is the understanding that my humanity is bound up in yours: when I lift you, I am lifted; when I diminish you, I am diminished too. Desmond Tutu carried this African wisdom to the world, and Nelson Mandela made it a compass for a nation choosing to build together.
BelongWell4Life rests on it. Every step of the path is a way of living ubuntu, and of building places where others can live it too.
Wisdom and science, one truth
African wisdom and the science of belonging arrive at the same place: we flourish together. The research on connection, belonging and agency shows why ubuntu works. Ubuntu shows what it looks like in an ordinary day.
- See yourself in other people
- Everyone knows something; everyone brings something
- Ubuntu is never a one-way street
- Welcome everyone, not only people like us
Ubuntu on the path
Living ubuntu, step by step
Each step of the path carries two everyday ubuntu lessons, drawn from Mungi Ngomane's Everyday Ubuntu, and a South African way of living them.
Become a builder
See yourself in other people · Dignity and respect
In practice: The five ubuntu values: humanness, caring, sharing, respect and compassion.
Talk well
Stand in another's shoes · Listen so that you can hear
In practice: Ninjani: the “how are you all?” that asks after everyone close to you. Greet fully before business.
Gather well
Seek out ways to connect · Find humour in our humanity
In practice: The indaba (a small circle), the lekgotla (a longer retreat meeting) and the imbizo (a large gathering). Cooking and eating together.
Hold the space
Forgiveness on your own terms · Acknowledge reality
In practice: Shepherd leadership: listen first, speak last, and sum up what the group said. Ask why before you correct.
Build a community
Strength lies in unity · Embrace our diversity
In practice: Talking “under the tree” until everyone can agree. A community charter written together.
Make a difference together
See the wider perspective · Believe in the good of everyone
In practice: The work party (letsema): neighbours work each other's fields in turn, then celebrate together.
Make it last
Choose hope · Little things make a big difference
In practice: The stokvel spirit: give and receive in turns, and nobody is dropped when they cannot give this time.
Live it: the course
Live Ubuntu: I Am Because We Are
Fourteen everyday lessons in being human through others, two in each module, each lived through a South African practice, ending in the builder’s pledge. A companion to Mungi Ngomane’s Everyday Ubuntu, and the first course on the way to the certificate.
- 39 tools across 8 modules
- A reader for every module and an audio guide on every tool
- Private workbooks you keep on your own device
Ubuntu, open to everyone
Ubuntu belongs to all of us. It welcomes the stranger as well as the neighbour, and it asks nothing of anyone's language, faith or background.
Belonging never means that everyone must be the same: a community lives by its differences as much as by what it shares. And respect runs both ways, between young and old, women and men, newcomers and those who have been here long.
Step 0: Become a builder
The builder's pledge
Every Certified Community Builder begins the year with these promises: one for each step of the path.
I will try, every day, to:
- 0See myself in others, and treat every person with dignity, whoever they are.
- 1Listen so that I can hear, and ask after the people who matter to them, not only the person in front of me.
- 2Bring people together, and welcome the one at the edge of the room.
- 3Hold the space when things are hard: ask before I judge, and stay when it gets difficult.
- 4Build with others, not for them: decide together, so that no one is left behind.
- 5Make a difference together, starting where I am, with what we have.
- 6Keep giving and receiving, so that what we build outlasts us.
Inspired by South Africa's Ubuntu Pledge.