Page 164 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 8

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never befriend anyone because of what we get from them: If you marry
a monkey for his wealth, the money goes and the monkey remains as is
(Egyptian Proverb).

Family

Africans believe that a whole person should invest in building and sustai-
ning the family, nuclear and extended. There is conviction that: sticks in
a bundle are unbreakable (Bondei proverb) and that walking through life
with others provides safety: Cross the river in a crowd and the crocodile
won‘t eat you (African proverb).
In as much as the single human being is a system of interlocked systems,
from birth, each individual is linked to others in the family: the living
and those who have died: However far the stream flows, it never forgets
its source (Yoruba proverb). Keeping our family relationships healthy
involves the knowledge that each person is part of the system of the un-
born, the living and the dead. This wisdom instills careful consideration
in how one lives, relates with others and honors the memory of the de-
parted. In Africa, legacies are passed from the unborn to the living and
the departed are remembered with honor: If we stand tall it is because we
stand on the backs of those who came before us (Yoruba proverb). To this
end, Africans value babies because each birth marks a line of continuity.
To this end, among the Meru people of Kenya for example, babies would
receive a name signifying a character of an adult in the family even the
departed because although physically gone, the memory of these people
survives in the family.

Community
In Africa, a person is defined by belonging to a community and so builds
and nurtures community ties. Many individuals and families come to-
gether to support one another so that sharing and caring become life
themes that help the whole as well as enrich parts of that whole. Balanced
personhood involves activities done with other people. This is not neces-
sarily selfishly seeking individual gains but giving oneself for the sake of
others or the greater gain of the whole.
The African proverb: A person is a person through other people exem-
plifies the spirit of ubuntu that basically defines the quality of being hu-
man. Archbishop Desmond Tutu observes: You might have much of the
world‘s riches, and you might hold a portion of authority, but if you have
no ubuntu, you do not amount to much, revealing the African worldview
that each one owes their selfhood to others and that there are many gains
in community. The wisdom: One finger cannot pick up a grain (African
proverb) is lived out in Africa through willing participation and unque-
stioning support to others when needed. Of course, responsible Ubuntu
should not encourage dependency and laziness. That is why the Meru
people of Kenya believe that: A visitor should last only two or three days.
On the third day, you give them a hoe to join you in weeding the garden.”
Balanced holistic living calls for building and nurturing community and
everyone gains when collective gifts of community come together to
complete a project, be it child naming, wedding or building bridges.

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