UJ’s Africa Day highlights Ubuntu

Ubuntu. We are people only through other people. We need to unite in spite of our superficial differences.

That was the potent message behind University of Johannesburg’s Africa Day celebrations. The event, held on 19 May at the university’s Auckland Park and Soweto campuses also emphasised the soul, the rhythm and the heart of our continent. Students and performers took to the stage and physically showed the attentive audience what being African was really about.

“Africa Day is a vital event for us,” well-known activist and educator Salim Vally, the main speaker, said. “We were taught that Africa is a dark, scary place. We were never told that we belong to this continent. We’re rediscovering this place, day by day. And in South Africa we have discovered that the differences between us have made us even richer.”

In 1963, on 25 May, the leaders of 32 African nations formed the OAU (Organisation of African Unity.) After 1994, South Africa joined the OAU. And in 2001, also on 25 May, the organisation’s name changed to African Unity.

“This is not just an event, but also a day to honour the richness of our continent, to celebrate our victories and our youth,” Vally said. “It’s about commitment to peace and justice and about standing together. The brutal kidnapping of the Nigerian women by Boko Harem is a prime example, people all over are standing together against this.”

Educating Africa, Vally admitted, was a challenge. “If a kid comes to a classroom hungry, education doesn’t make a difference. You can’t ignore the social context. A third of our children have no drinking water, and yet we expect them to do homework. Education isn’t about theory. Education is about making us human.”

Elizabeth Sibongile Rapakgadi, a multi-award winning special needs teacher, was the next speaker. “You are the ones who need to go out there and change the world, and change Africa,” she implored. “You can’t expect everything to fall in your lap. This spirit of self-entitlement pervading our country and our continent is bad. We need to set ourselves high standards – let’s set that bar very high so that we can build Africa up.”

“Our speakers made us feel the importance of Africa Day, and our performers made us feel it,” Dr Graham Dampier, lecturer at the university, declared at the close of the celebration.

Organiser of the event David Nkosi proclaimed it a great success.

“During the genocide in Rwanda, an Interahamwe or genociders group tried to divide a group of school kids, by asking them which of them were hutus, and which were tutsis,” Vally recounted. “The kids answered, “We are all Rwandan. We are all African. We stand together.””

Africa Day is officially celebrated on Sunday 25 May. Dance. Join a drum circle and unite.