Ubuntu: Reflecting on our Collective Humanity.

While this is not my first international trip, Uganda is the most welcoming place that I have ever visited. So much so, that it feels like home. On our first day here, we visited the Khadafi Mosque. As our guide talked to us about the history of the building and the region, Islamic faith in Uganda, and the various ethnic groups that made Kampala what it is today, we were reminded that this continent—endearingly referred to as “Mama Africa”—is and will always be home for all of humankind. While he seemed to be talking about all of humanity, for the first time—as an African-American—I felt like I was a part of the African Diaspora. While it may not have been the experience of anyone else on the trip, I definitely felt a real connection to a history and ancestry that has been lost due to a long history of slavery and general racial stratification in the United States. While I may never be “African,” I truly have filled a gap of longing in my life by visiting Uganda.

The first day is only one of many experiences here that evoked feelings of Ubuntu, a southern African philosophy. The way I like to think about Ubuntu, which is the way that I learned it during my visit to South Africa, is simply “I am who I am because of who we all are.” For me, this means that everything about myself is tied to the lives and experiences of everyone else in my community, in my country, and in my world. While we may have different experiences and histories that make each of us unique, our experiences are not wholly independent of each other. When anyone is oppressed, I am oppressed as well.

Young people at UYDEL preparing to perform song, drama, and dance during our visit
Young people at UYDEL preparing to perform song, drama, and dance during our visit

This worldview was not only evoked in thinking about my own ancestral ties to Africa, but it has been particularly apparent in the presence of the children we have interacted with. Visiting the young people at the UYDEL center was especially emotional for me. At home, I used to work at a program sponsored by my undergraduate university at an elementary school on the southwest side of the city. There, I was a restorative justice practitioner, primarily guiding several groups of students in peace circles—a community oriented method of discussion—where we talked about anything from conflict resolution, grief, gang violence, sexual assault, and day-to-day struggles that adolescents face. While these children did not come from slums, the surrounding community dealt with a whole host of issues that children should not be forced to experience. In the smiling faces of those children as they shared with us their songs, drama, and dance, reminded me of my own students back home. Touched by the similar resiliency and joy despite the abject circumstances that brought them to the center, I was brought to tears during the entirety of their performance. It was amazing to see how our joyous and sorrowful experiences are all connected in some way.

The spirit of Ubuntu has followed me through the entirety of my trip, and I am looking forward to seeing it more during the rest of our travels.

 

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Samantha Martin

Samantha Martin is a graduate student in Georgia State University’s joint Masters and Doctoral program in Sociology with a concentration in Race and Urban Studies. Samantha graduated with honors from Roosevelt University in May of 2015 with a B.A. in Sociology and a minor in Psychology. A lifelong resident of Chicago’s South side, her interest in community research was sparked by a passion to understand the city’s racial and economic stratification as it relates to education and gang activity, as well as a passion for improving the community organizations in urban areas that work to combat the causes and symptoms of systemic inequality. Her research interests include identity development of youth of color, juvenile delinquency, racial/economic inequity in education, intervention and community program evaluation, disproportionate minority contact, and the school to prison pipeline. She is specifically interested in the relationship between inequity in disciplinary and/or academic policy in schools and the early criminalization of Latina and African American girls in metropolitan areas.

One thought on “Ubuntu: Reflecting on our Collective Humanity.”

  1. Samantha this is just one more reason for me to be proud of you. I am inspired reading this. Keep up the good work.

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