DailyGood

For the last 27 years, DailyGood newsletters have offered a daily email that inspires you to respond to life with creativity and kindness. To join a community of 148,447 subscribers, subscribe here.

Sep 3, 2007

"Compassion is a central part of ubuntu; Africans are known for ukwenana, an act of giving or sharing without expecting returns." --Barbara Nussbaum

Meaning of Ubuntu

In the African culture, ubuntu is a word that speaks to our interconnectedness and the responsibility to each other that flows from our connection. 'I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am' is a good example of the 'self-in-community' foundation that gives rise to sayings in Zulu, such as umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu - 'It is through others that one attains selfhood.'