The Army Truck

My truck has worked hard. It has delivered thousands of tons of food to those in crisis. For over three years my truck served the people of KZN, through Covid, riot and flood. My truck has worked hard. It has aged. During this time, my truck has been serviced and supported (and even fitted with an incredible suspension) by a group of men with corporate roles and resource. Their support was based on connection, connections they explored with the people of Inanda. These men used their resources to provide support to my truck, and asked for nothing in return.

At Ubuntu Army we prioritize heart. We do not seek sponsorship. We prioritize connection over revenue. We prioritize people. On behalf of the people of KZN, I would like to thank Roger Ronald Lassen, Louis Fourie, Dries du Toit, Ant Trickey and the rest of the team at RAW 4x4 Africa and GUD Holdings for supporting my truck, for supporting the work that it has done and the people it has fed, and perhaps most importantly for taking their place in the thin red line of Ubuntu. For taking their place in Ubuntu Army.To join Ubuntu Army, we step past our judgements and fears, past historical differences and division, and meet the people on the other side of the street, the people on the other side of the socio-political-economic-religious divide. It’s an act of revolution as we reclaim our agency and power, in a system that offers only charity and politics as possible solutions to the inequality, poverty and hunger we face as a society.

We all have the right and the privilege to connect with those from whom we feel separated. We all have the responsibility to step into the thin red line of Ubuntu. The connection is powerful and beautiful. The connection heals. The connection heals all those involved. The connection heals communities and countries, one relationship at al time. The connection restores our individual and collective humanity.

Creating a connection is not convenient. it is not a donate button or a political vote. It is an act of revolution, an act of defiance, as we abandon politics and chairty and face our problems face-to-face, head-on, together. It requires that we leave our comfort zones, our digital platforms, our safety nets, and meet, as in actually physically meet those people from whom we have been separated. This allows us the chance to swap stories, to share dreams and challenges, to process pain. To find our common humanity. To unite.

Creating a connection with a person from whom we feel separated is the single most important act we can take in reclaiming our country. In reclaiming our rainbow. Ubuntu.

Known in the townships as the Army Truck, this truck has worked hard. Very hard.