ubuntu army
respond
Never underestimate a man and his truck, or a community and its heart.
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disasters
Ubuntu Army has successfully responded to crisis and disaster in Kwa-Zulu Natal, and South Africa, since March 2020, supporting the vulnerable, and newly vulnerable under exceptionally challenging circumstances. Ubuntu Army shepherded hundreds of thousands of Africans, throughout South Africa, to safety, through the hunger and starvation that resulted from the collapse of the informal sector during the Covid lockdown era, through the loss of life, property and livelihood that the devastating riots and violence in KZN and Gauteng caused in July 2021, and through the April 2022 floods that caused widespread loss of property, resource and life in KZN.
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covid
riot
flood
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lessons learnt
We have learnt so much. We have learnt that individuals alone, and together, can make a real difference in crisis situations. We have learnt that compassion, connection and community are at the core of everything good, and that all too often, ego, money and politics, underpin all that fails. We have learnt that disaster relief should often not be left solely to the “professionals” or the NGOs. This we have learnt many times over. We have learnt that disaster response is not a short term undertaking. In fact, the real work in disaster relief only happens months after the initial crisis has passed, when the true nature of the humanitarian crisis reveals itself.
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inanda
The success and commitment of the Ubuntu Army response to disaster is best I​illustrated by a brief case study of our response to the floods that destroyed Inanda in April 2022. We arrived in the mud, amongst those most affected by loss in the Inanda Valley, 8 hours after the floods hit Kwa-Zulu Natal. We left 10 months later. In those 10 months, we built a map of loss. We spent those 10 months on the ground, in the mud, creating that map. We knew where everyone who had been effected by loss, was living. It was the only map of its sort in Inanda. With that map, we gathered appropriate resource, established appropriate supply chains and logistics, and spent the next 10 months supporting the vulnerable, the homeless, the traumatised, the hungry. We managed to reach everyone, and we worked until the job was done.
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publicity
Most NGOs and corporates did not work until the job was done. A great deal of well publicised "relief" work was packed-up within 2 weeks of the rains, as the cameras and the news cycle left Inanda. Most relief agencies, corporates and celebrities popped-up in the days following the disaster, and then dissolved into the ether as quickly as they arrived, hot on the heels of the cameras. ​It would appear that the work doesn't count if it isn’t publicised. Ubuntu Army remained long after the cameras and press had left. Long after the relief agencies and NGOs had left. Or in some cases, even arrived. We did a good job. The reason you, most likely, have never heard about our work in Inanda during those 10 months, is that this paragraph represents the full extent of our publicity on the issue.
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the charity industry
It turned out, that during those first two weeks after the floods, Inanda was the place to be. The place to be seen. And now, after five years in the mud and rubble of various disasters, it is clear that suffering itself, is a hot-commodity. The non-profit sector is an industry like any-other. We've seen it. Repeatedly. Most non-profits are companies. They are corporates. They make money from their efforts, while signaling to the public that they are finding real solutions to the suffering. This is damaging and disempowering. This creates a false sense of security in the mind of the public. A false sense that the problem is being taken care of. This is a virtue signal designed to attract and appropriate funding and donation. In truth, non-profits are businesses, working to establish revenue streams to pay for their overheads and salaries, working to expand as an organisation, in size and importance, working to massage personal egos, and working, essentially, to prosper. Ego and profit, over heart.
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heart
If the vulnerable are to be supported, then it is necessary to break the spell that the non-profit corporates enjoy. Their relief work is big business, their virtue signals are marketing materials. If charity is to regain its dignity, then those in the charity industry need to be held accountable by the public. Do not give them your money, your mandate, your permission or your power to help on your behalf, unless they are fully transparent, on the ground, in the mud, working from heart, and they convert the vast majority of your contributions into discernible work and results. Those working in charity need to connect in-person and on the ground with those suffering, in order to rediscover their heart, rediscover their organisation's legitimacy and to rediscover their collective reason for supporting the vulnerable..
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it's personal
Our response to crisis is personal. You and I, and the rest of the everyday army, stand-up for the venerable people in our community, or step-in behind the ordinary people on the ground, who are standing-up for the newly vulnerable members of their community. Ubuntu Army adds the weight of our experience, network and resource to the individuals marshaling the local, on-the-ground response to crisis, anywhere on the planet. A local-global-grassroots response to crisis and disaster, harnessing the power of the everyday people, both-on-the-ground and around-the-world, to support the newly vulnerable. At the core of Ubuntu Army's response to crisis and disaster, is community and compassion. Global Ubuntu. It is not about money, publicity, or recognition. It's personal, and this makes the Ubuntu Army response lethal.
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accountability
At the core of a transparent and sustained response to crisis, Is on-the-ground accountability in the distribution of money and resource. It is not possible to manage resource or response remotely. To this end, an Ubuntu Army trustee will travel to the disaster area where our support is requested, to manage the distribution of global contributions, and to offer support and guidance to the local responders, in developing a plan of response, and in identifying the local network of people and logistics available to help. ​
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recovery
The connections and community created during the response, between previously separated members of a community, town or city, form the basis of long term recovery, as responders take personal responsibility for the vulnerable. These connections remain long after the crisis has resolved, as a testament to the power of the ordinary, everyday people taking personal responsibility for teach other. These Ubuntu Links are the cornerstone of connection and community, and will end structural and temporal poverty and vulnerability.
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an admission
I have written "we" many times, when more accurately, I should have written "I".
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I am a man with a truck. That is all. Nothing fancy. A simple pickup truck. When disaster hit my province, I fed hundreds of thousands of people. Mostly alone. This is the truth. I built houses. I built relationships. I built trust. I built this website. I built Ubuntu Army, the movement, and later Ubuntu Army, the entity. I built Ubuntu Army by supporting the vulnerable people in my community, with my actions and my truck. I have done the vast majority of this, and much, much more, alone.
So, what is the purpose of my admission, now that Ubuntu Army has grown beyond me? Simple. I would like us all to consider the answer to a simple question: If a man with a truck can do all of this, what stops any of us from doing the same? Perhaps not all of it, but at least some part of it. What stops any of us from acting directly? What stops any of us from standing up, and taking personal responsibility for the suffering that we are surrounded by? What excuses do we rely on to mitigate our responsibility, our right, our privilege to join the thin red line of Ubuntu around the vulnerable?
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Excuses. I have a few. I am an artist with limited finances and limited resources. I also have limited time as I struggle every day for financial certainty, and because I invest a big chunk of my time into being a good dad, uncle, brother, son, nephew, cousin. You get the picture. I have very little time, resource or money to spare. I am average in almost every way. I face the same challenges that most of us do. I may be blessed with greater than average access to my creative process, but, I have lower than average business acumen. I am an average man, with an average truck. Actually, it's a great truck. I simply moved past my excuses and acted. Directly. That is all. Nothing fancy.
What are your excuses and how do you move past them? Simple. You get in your car and drive to the problem, and connect with the vulnerable, the scared, the hungry, the overwhelmed. Just do it. Don't weigh it up. Don't look for excuses. Get in your car. Act. Connect. Nothing fancy.
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Clint Mclean
Founder of Ubuntu Army
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resp o nd t o c ri si s
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join a response
In-person connection is the gold standard of connection. In-person connection allows for people to experience their shared values, struggles and vulnerability without the filter of a screen, to touch and feel, and smell and taste connection. To be human.
Digital connection, although not as grounded and satisfying as in-person connection, does serve a purpose, if we manage it properly. The Ubuntu Respond Facebook group, facilitates digital connection between those in crisis and those willing to help. Simple. The group has fostered many thousands of new relationships, and in the process, newly vulnerable and displaced people have been helped through times of crisis and disaster. Many of these relationships endure. Join Ubuntu Respond and be ready to act when the call for help goes out.
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