I Believe in Ubuntu

Lee Ann De Reus
Altoona, PA

Posted in WPSU’s This I Believe, 2010-02-04

I believe in the African concept of Ubuntu. According to this philosophy, each of us is part of a larger global community and our humanity is interconnected.

A person who lives ubuntu is generous, hospitable, friendly, compassionate, and forgiving. They recognize all people are interdependent. What humanizes or dehumanizes one, humanizes or dehumanizes all.

I experienced the power of ubuntu this past summer when I interviewed 30 rape survivors at a hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As a professor from Penn State Altoona, I was there to collect stories for a research project about how women cope with the stigma of rape. But more importantly, I wanted to raise awareness in the United States about the hundreds of thousands of women and girls in the Congo who have suffered sexual violence.

The women I spoke with told me horrific stories. Yet the majority had forgiven the men who committed these atrocities. Forgiven? I re-phrased my question and asked a second time. Should your attackers be imprisoned, executed, or forgiven? Again, the answer was forgiveness.

I was astonished. These women live in a country described as “the worst place in the world to be a woman.” Yet they had the capacity to forgive, to recognize the humanity of the men who attacked them, to practice ubuntu.

If I were in their shoes, would I have the same ability to forgive? How can I live ubuntu and make a difference?

The women I met did not have to share their painful stories with me. But they did - with the hope that stories relayed by this white woman from the West would compel others to act. That people in the United States might feel the tug of ubuntu, the connection between people.

The most tragic story I heard came from a young woman named Mateso. She was kidnapped by an armed militia at the age of 13, and taken to the bush for one year as a slave. She was raped repeatedly and became pregnant. The baby was stillborn. Mateso eventually escaped and found her way to Panzi Hospital where she has lived for two years. She suffers from severe internal injuries. And despite multiple surgeries, she remains incontinent. Women who are raped and incontinent are severely stigmatized in Congo, resulting in rejection by husbands, family, and entire villages. Mateso stays on at the hospital with the hope the next surgery will be successful and she can return to her village.

What dehumanizes Mateso, and others like her, dehumanizes me. But when there is forgiveness, there is hope and part of our souls is restored. I have a responsibility now, to the women of Congo, to serve as witness, messenger, and advocate - to tell others about the crisis, to share the powerful stories of forgiveness, survival and hope, to work for change. I believe in practicing ubuntu, so we can all be fully human.

Additional Links

Visit the Panzi Foundation Website

An Article by De Reus about Darfur and Congo in the Centre Daily Times

De Reus Started “Save Darfur: Central Pennsylvania.” Visit the Site.

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