Mbôngi ya Ubuntu is a community of WanaUbuntu (Africans) grounded in the Nguzo Asaa; Umoja, Kujichagulia, Ujima, Ujamaa, Nia, Kuumba, Imani, which are the essence of Ubuntu, reclaiming Our Way of Ubuntu and liberating ourselves from foreign subjugation. All members commit to practicing the Nguzo Asaa in their daily lives, knowing that each one must practice their skills in service to the community to nurture and sustain our collective well-being. Mbôngi ya Ubuntu intends to break away from exploitative capitalist economic practices and build a collective means of sustaining the well-being of all community members and the environment around us.
Ubuntu
“Ubuntu is the understanding that the full development of
personhood comes with a shared identity and the idea that an
individual’s humanity is fostered in a network of
relationships–I am because you are; we are because your
are.”- ‘Ubuntu and Personhood,’ by James Ogude
Being in
Ubuntu means we as human beings are stewards of all
creation. We ensure that our actions promote the well-being
of all creation; animals, plants, and Mother Earth herself.
I am because we are.
Mbôngi
As inspired by Kimbwandènde Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau, in his
writings in his book, ‘Mbôngi: An African Traditional
Poltical Institution,’ we at Mbôngi ya Ubuntu have chosen
this name Mbôngi based on the definition of the Kôngo
Peoples of Ubuntu.
“In this central-west
African culture, the term Mbôngi and the concept it
expresses are derived from the verbal root ‘Bônga.’ The
latter signifies ‘to take, to sieze, to accept, to make
one’s possession, to own.’ Contextually one can ‘Bônga
mbebe/yeko, zitu, mpasi, nzèngolo, mâmbu evo mfuka’ (take
a responsibility, a burden, a pain, a decision, risks, a
debt). ‘Bônga Yeko’ taking a Responsibility, Y/R, is
comparing oneself to the weight of the Responsibility to
be taken but, also, deciding if one is able to head the
‘kimfumu kia Mbôngi,’ the leadership of the Mbôngi, the
most important political institution present in every
rural Bântu traditional community, this is to become
responsible for it and becomes a lifter of all oppressing
times borne by the community. ‘Bônga Yeko,’ to take a
Responsibility, is supposed to lighten the weight of
social and economic problems of the community and relieve
its members. It is finding a uniform and acceptable answer
for whoever bore the weight of the burden. It is heading
or directing that responsibility in private as well as in
public.”
Mbôngi is the public council house; institution of debates and of conceptualization; the community parliament; the popular court of justice among the Peoples of Ubuntu; source, origin, fireplace. We at Mbôngi ya Ubuntu are taking responsibility to reclaim, preserve, live, and defend Our Way of Ubuntu. We are M’bôngi.
DikengaSymbol
The DiKenga is the concept of Our Being that originates from Kôngo Peoples, the Ubuntu Way, where our being is made up of the physical and spiritual being, and our time in the physical being is grounded in service to community for the well-being of the collective. It is the concept that life is cyclical, a continuous state of being between physical and spiritual.
THE SANKOFA BIRD
The Image: The bird should be mid-flight to
show its forward motion, representing the fact that history
flows on. Despite its committed forward motion, the bird looks
back because it is aware of having dropped something valuable,
and indispensable. It therefore casts its vision backward to
retrieve this element of value that should never have been lost,
before it continues in its forward motion. This past valued
element will help us understand what we had and be better able
to assess what we can create moving forward.
The Description: The Sankofa bird is an iconic representation of the
griots' insight--that with the triumph of the Europeans
Africa entered a time of loss, and that we have important memory
work to do if we are to recover what we lost. The bird is shown
in mid-flight: history flows on. Its forward motion is not in
doubt; nevertheless, the bird is aware of having dropped
something valuable, indeed, indispensable. It therefore casts
its vision backward, not with any intention of reversing time
and returning to the past to live there, but with the purpose of
retrieving from past time just that element of value that should
not have been lost, prior to continuing its interrupted
motion...[The Sankofa Bird] reminds us that we are free to
understand that the imposition of European rule was a violent
crime; that before that onslaught a once-vital society existed
[in Nsi ya Ubuntu (Africa)], and that if we want to make our way
into an intelligent future we will have to understand what we
had, the better to assess what we might yet create.- Ayi Kwei
Armah
