Reading

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

Learning from African refugees volonteering in their asyl procedures I stepped into the philosophy and practise of Ubuntu. I got insights in interrelational ways of responding that differ much from the eurocentric style

The video of Caritas Internationalis illustrates this other kind of interrelating

These 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

Next to the practise of Ubuntu I follow the current academic debate on African philosophy. I recently found out 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. Some new approach to Ubuntu as a relational and spiritual practice is therefore required