a person is a person through other people
One of the needles in the haystack of MXit contacts is responible for re-discovering this quote.
South Africa is, in many respects, well prepared for the revolution in the field of “intellectual property rights”. Although new to the western world, the idea that collective knowledge should form the starting point of a fluid,
continuously-evolving creation process is not new to South Africans. Living by the philosophy of ubuntu, South Africans have always created in collaborative groups. Ubuntu is most effectively encapsulated in the phrase: umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, which can be roughly translated as: “a person is a person through other people” or “I am what I am because of you”. This philosophy engenders itself in song, dance and music, where all individuals in the community participate in the creation process.The philosophy of Ubuntu is perfectly linked to the philosophies of open source and open content development embracing a process where creation is acknowledged as evolving out of the community, and recognising that at least some of the value coming out of that creation process needs to be given back to the community in order to strengthen future contributions.
Some real-life examples of this in all its glory would be:
Do you have any more examples of ubuntu in South Africa you would like to share?