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Get some insight in the panafrican concept of Ubuntu and it's relevance for Community Wellness Focusing

The indigenious meaning of the word ubu-ntu is "be-ing becoming". There is no exclusive definion of Ubuntu as a moral concept within African philosophy. The essence of ubu-ntu speaks of interconnectedness: „I need other persons to become a person. My humanity is bound up in yours. I am because we are.“ People with Ubuntu are warm, generous, open and available to others, affirming others and willing to be vulnerable

I was introduced to the concept of Ubuntu by Prof. Peggy Ntseane/University of Botswana at the 2013 ESREA Conference University of Freiburg/Germany on "Bildung meets Transformative Learning".

Volonteering in the asyl procedures of African refugees I stepped further into the philosophy and practise of Ubuntu. I got insight in interrelational ways of responding that differ much from the eurocentric style

The video of Caritas Internationalis illustrates this other kind of interrelating

My experiences were the impetus for a project that has already been running for more than four years. It is a Free Community Wellness Project that crosses Focusing, the philosophy of Ubuntu and the practical theology of Desmond Tutu

Following the current academic debate on African philosophy I found that animals, plants and the mineral environment are important ingredients of the ethics of Ubuntu. Because of this the contemporary idea of Ubuntu goes beyond the anthroprocentic view towards environmental holism (Prof. Workineh Kelbessa/University of Addis Ababa, workshop "Sustainability and Ubuntu Ethik", IZEW University of Tübingen). A new approach to Ubuntu as interrelational and spiritual practice is therefore required