ANCESTRAL CONNECTIONS

The Zulu proverb Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu expresses a profound truth embedded deep within the core of traditional Afrikan values. It translates into English as “a person is a person because of people.” Other translations state “a person is a person through other persons.” In either case, this compelling truth about what it means to be a “human” in the Afrikan context reveals the wisdom of our ancestors and the tremendous beauty of our way. According to Afrikan ancestral teachings, personhood is understood as a process and the product of interconnectedness experienced and or achieved in the context of the community. This Zulu proverb, with its numerous variants in other branches of the Nguni language family, is a pan-Afrikan truth known and lived wherever our cultural reality, though challenged, remains intact or in the process of being resurrected. Be it in the diaspora or on the continent the corollary examples of Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu richly abound. In a word it is the spirit of Ubuntu. Ubuntu: the spirit of reciprocal living that luminously envelops a community in healing energy radiating from the hearts of interdependent human spirits sharing, loving and observing Maat in the presence of ancestral spirits until they themselves join their ranks. It is this beautiful continuum of relationships, an unbroken circle of ancestral connections, a cultural ideal imbued with divine purpose and sacred meaning to which this proverb speaks. This is our truth. And while it is there for some to study, it is here for us to live, experience and pass on to the beautyful ones yet unborn! Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu – Kwadwo Gyasi Nkita-Mayala


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