Ubuntu: I am because we are

Temp: 22.9

Viz: Medium

Community Spirit: Off the charts

Last week I was lucky enough to be reunited with my brother as well as my best friend and get back up to Queensland (I missed my morning swim routine dearly) after over a year of ‘stay at home’ orders and borders being closed – thanks Covid.

Apart from the usual; catching up on life, feelings of nostalgia, the re-telling of old stories, pausing on old memories – and more importantly the making of new memories, I was reminded again of the importance of family and community and the huge role it plays in our lives – whether we fully comprehend it or not. I was also reminded of the term we use for this in South Africa which so beautifully encapsulates this feeling:

“Ubuntu”

Ubuntu is a 2000-year-old philosophy – a Zulu term meaning “humanity”. It is often translated as “I am because we are“, or “humanity towards others”, ” but is often used in a more philosophical sense to mean “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity”

Or simply put: “An authentic individual human being is part of a larger and more significant relational, communal, societal, environmental and spiritual world”

Over 2000 years ago, the people of Africa developed a collective meaning for life to describe the kind of relationship an individual person is expected to have with their family, community, society, environment and their spiritual world. As the Africans migrated mostly from the west part of the continent to the east, central and south, and beyond the continent, they carried with them this meaning to life.

When you unpack that it’s really not hard to see hundreds of examples of this surface themselves in our ‘little’ swim group on a daily basis:

From our newsletter/blog, to our Facebook page, people inquiring about the surf and/or blueys before their swim, viz reports, amazing drone footage, the 6:30am (and earlier) pioneers giving us the first conditions report, the collective spirit of helping others keep on track for their swimming badges, sharing a coffee after, helping people to their first Bold, marine life spotting, the half way birthday celebrations, the lifeguards watching over us, people on beach clean-up, having a mental unwind, posting lost and fund, offering the latest advice on how to brave the winter swims, and then last but not least, in its truest sense, the recently created ‘profession section’ to help support our fellow swimmers, by utilising their skills where they can during these Covid impacted times.

Personally, the Bold and Beautiful swim and community has become a cornerstone to my happiness and I can think of no better community who exhibit the Ubuntu spirit more. Evidence below 🙂

Best time of the day:

Christo and Alex:

J:

Ranya and her 38 week babs- teaching them early 🙂

Emily and Liz:

Mike Squared:

Dave, Lindel and Larry:

Look after eachother and have the best week all!