Page 12 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 6

MY AFRIKA
which says that we can talk
about how Christianity dam-
aged our Afrikan way of life, cul-
ture, tradition etc and then not
talk about how we are not even
trying to live the Ubuntu way
of life which we inherited from
our forefathers. We can’t keep
fighting to regain our Afrikan
originality by hiding our heads
in the sand when it concerns
living the Ubuntu lifestyle, while
at the same time we won’t stop
blaming the white man and his
supposed religion for our woes.
It’s high time we called things
what they are. We must tell
ourselves that we have failed
in upholding the truth and the
indigenous knowledge systems
of our forefathers and thus we
must repent for that. An Afrikan
proverb says “It is a bastard
that points at his father’s house
with his left hand.” We Afrikans
have now mastered how to hold
the white man's chicken and
chips with our right hand while
pointing with our left hand to
our father's house that the white
man "destroyed". For while we
banter and lament over the
white man and whatever non-
sense he has done in and to
Afrika, we do not go back to tell
ourselves the truth that we do
not really want to let go of the
white man’s game, delicacies
and his capitalist tendencies.
Prove me wrong if you can. We
love the white man's inferior
knowledge that is just a few
hundred years old while calling
ours which has been for mil-
lennia, primitive or alternative.
We love his inferior medicine
that kills more than heals while
calling our indigenous Afrikan
medicine witchcraft. We love
his inferior lifestyle of individu- let me share an excerpt from an
alism, greed, capitalism and
superiority complex, his twisted
educational degrees that gather
12 | heal . restore . rebirth . Afrika
information but no wisdom, his
technology that will only make
man dependent on machines,
we appreciate his mindset
because it makes us feel like
heroes when we use them and
then turn back to say the white
man is the demon that deval-
ued our Afrikan heritage. We
have somehow mastered the
evil art of crying foul like victims
and at the same time won't stop
sleeping in the same bed with
the victimizer. Hypocrites of the
worst order! No one should bite
with his teeth the very meat he
forbids. That is simply treacher- we are present in each other.
ous. For if we are not careful
we will just be like the foolish
Boko Haram sect whose ideol-
ogy says “modern education
is an abomination” but at the
same time they use the weap-
ons and the technology that the
"modern abomination" created,
to fight their so called holy war
for their holy god. Foolishness
of the highest order if you ask
me. Africanism and the subject
of emancipating Afrika must not
be subjected to such madness
of the mind and hypocritical
reasoning.
What is Ubuntu?
Ubuntu clearly goes beyond a
set of definitions, so to give an
explanatory theory of Ubuntu,
article written by Dr Mfuniselwa
Bhengu.
“No person exists in and out of
himself/herself. You exist physi-
cally only as you are immersed
in an ocean of life-giving air.
One exists as a man only
because you have participated
from the moment of birth in a
world of human beings and
culture. You are a self-in-a-
world, not just a self. “To be”
is not only you and the world,
but it means to co-create a life
world. We permeate each other;
We influence and form each
other’s personality. We exude
feelings and actions, which help
determine the feeling tone of
our home, our class at school,
the other person with whom we
are talking. We are constantly
offering good or not-so-good
possibilities to some situation.
The need to think afresh about
moral problems is ever present
and particularly great in a peri-
od of rapid economic and social
change and rapid advance in
knowledge of human nature. In
the pages that follow, it is indi-
cated that Ubuntu is an instru-
ment of peace. Therefore, to
heal the wounds of our unpal-
atable and painful history, and
the world, Ubuntu, it is argued
here, is one of the best medi-
cines to use because it is the
key to the creation of a better
society. Through Ubuntu we are