It's time to kick the door down. Ubuntu Army V2.0

Over three years, between March 2020 and March 2023, we faced lockdowns, riots, and floods. Durban was a city in crisis. During those years we, the ordinary people, showed up. In our thousands. We, the Ubuntu Army, made up of everyday individuals from around the globe, showed up. During those years we gave. Unconditionally. It is during crisis that the vulnerable are truly exposed. It is during crisis that we give, unreservedly.

During those years I wrote. I documented the work of Ubuntu Army. I wrote to motivate, to help transcend the fear of lockdown, riot and flood. I wrote to unearth compassion, to create response, to unify. The response to the crisis, and to my writing was incredible. People were touched, inspired, motivated. And then the crisis was over. I took a break from writing. I was exhausted. I needed to rest. I also needed to transition Ubuntu Army.

During those years I was clear that Ubuntu Army would transition from giving to growing as soon as the immediate crisis resolved. In February 2023, Ubuntu Army, left Inanda having spent 10 months shepherding the last of the survivors from the April 2022 floods to safety. With three years of service, to the vulnerable, in the mud, complete, the task of redefining Ubuntu Army began.

It would have been simple to convert the whole thing into an NGO. Another NGO. That was never going to happen. There are enough NGOs in the world. We don’t need another one. The charity model is broken. Charity does not work. It does not create dignity and independence and unity. It creates dependence and reinforces division and difference. It reinforces the us-and-them.

What we needed was change. What we need is change. I resolved to create a platform for participation, for all, rather than an exclusive organisation to which members-only belong. A platform that facilitates communication, collaboration, and connection. A platform that allows every human on the planet to participate. A platform that provides every human on the planet with a personal guide to creating global change as an individual.

I have spent the past year refining Ubuntu Army. It has been hard work, and it has taken longer than I hoped, but it is done (almost). And it’s beautiful. While not a traditional NGO, it is not a diffuse, intangible organisation. It is you. It is me. It is all of us. We are all members of Ubuntu Army, if we choose to be. To join Ubuntu Army, we reach out, we connect with the people on the other side of our fears. You become a member of Ubuntu Army the moment you reach out and connect with those from whom you have been previously separated. That is all.

Poverty is not a lack of resource, it is a lack of connection, a lack of community. With community we can solve the issues of food, water, and shelter, but without it, we have only politics and charity left, and neither solve anything. #ubuntulink

Ubuntu Army stands behind a very simple ethic. An ethic that gives us all the agency, the power, and the opportunity to make the changes that are so necessary. As individuals. We have tested this ethic in the field. We have acted on this ethic. It works. It is a path to change. A real path. Our ethic has been validated by social scientists studying poverty and justice, by professors studying poverty and democracy. #ubuntulink

What we uncovered during our three years in the mud is beyond valuable. What we discovered is that connection between ordinary people, not the donations of food and money offered and received, but the connection itself, is at the core of change. Connection is the real gem in the equation. Connection creates community. A single connection creates a micro-community. Micro-communities, between ordinary people, are where the power lies. It is where the change happens. #ubuntulink

This too has been validated.

We need to be the change we all so badly want in our countries. We cannot create change with votes, donations and a positive attitude. We each have a role to play. We all need to connect. We need to leave our comfort zones and take our place in the Ubuntu Army. To stand for the ethic of compassion in the face of greed, entitlement, ego, division and judgement. It is tough work, but essential. #ubuntulink is a national call to action. It is a global call to action. A call to take back our power and to create the changes we all so badly want in our countries

I cannot do this by myself. No one can. I need all of you to join me. Collectively, we need to embrace each other. We need to embrace compassion. We need to push the Ubuntu Army ethic of #ubuntulink into the national ether to become a national treasure, a global phenomenon, the most recognisable hashtag on the planet. Ubuntu Army is only as strong as the people who stand up for this hastag. This is love in action. This will save us, this will will save our neighbours who live in poverty, and ultimately, this will save our creaking planet.

For now, I ask that you join and share.

JOIN

Please join me on www.ubuntuarmy.org. It is an opportunity for us all, as individuals, to be heard, to create actual change, to fight poverty on a structural level, to create dignity, independence and unity in our country, to force our politicians to once more become the civil servants they were hired to be, and perhaps most importantly to rediscover our own humanity, to rediscover our compassion. I invite you all to join the compassion revolution.

SHARE

I have never asked for this before, but I do so now. Please share #ubuntulink and www.ubuntuarmy.org far and wide. Please use every opportunity, every social media platform, every family braai (barbeque), birthday party, picnic, wedding, note-to-the-teacher, email signature, WhatsApp status, converstaion, packaging design decison etc, to push the #ubuntulink forward. I am unconcerned about revenue, donation or organisational profitability. I am concerned only with creating change. This is change. This is your opportunity to create change. Please share aggressively.

I am rested, and will begin once more to write, to document the work, the amazing work, of you, the Ubuntu Army. I will write now for change, for growing, for justice, for our rainbow. I will write to motivate, to help transcend the fear of change, to unearth compassion, to unify. Please join me on this journey. Please share these posts. Aggressively. This, I believe, is our only chance.