On the 4th of November 2008, the citizens of the United States of America elected Barack Obama as their president. It was such an unlikely story, so seemingly impossible- the son of a Kenyan father and a mother from Kansas, who rose, despite insurmountable odds, to the highest public office of one the most powerful nations in the world. And yet this is now, incontrovertibly, a milestone in the phenomenon that is American history.

However, this triumphant moment had resonance well beyond America’s borders; indeed, it reverberated through countless communities across the globe. The reason for this is simple- Barack Obama’s victory was not just an American moment, it was a human moment. It is one of those instances, like the fall of the Berlin wall or the release of Nelson Mandela, in which we were reminded of the blessed capacity we have, as human beings, to truly change history if we choose to stand together.
 
And herein lies the true inspiration and, indeed, the challenge: change is only possible if we take collective ownership of it. We cannot just rely on a single individual, not matter how noble or brilliant. We must co-labour for our preferred future; it cannot be accomplished alone.
 
In Africa we aspire to a traditional ideology called ‘Ubuntu,' which roughly equates to the concept that ‘I exist because you exist.’ Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu beautifully describes Ubuntu as follows:

‘(Ubuntu means) “a person is a person through other people”...I am human because I belong, I participate, and I share. A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good; for he or she has a proper self assurance that comes with knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when other are tortured or oppressed, or treated as if they were less than who they are.’
 
If we are to accept Ubuntu as a truism, or at least as an ideal, that we have to be open to the possibility that there is an invisible web inextricably connecting us all. And if this is so, then change can only occur if we make it a reality in community. This requires that we choose to live our lives differently. It means deliberately reaching out to our neighbours, defending the vulnerable, caring for our planet, and committing each moment of everyday to a cause higher than ourselves. If we can truly live with this Ubuntu, then we will be well on our way towards another world, a better world, one far more compassionate and just. Can this be accomplished? It seems unlikely, even impossible. But I, for one, am audacious enough to hope that, together, (in the words of the 44th President of America):
 
Yes we can!

 

HC Volmink