And When He Returns from an Afternoon Walk, It Is Always Interesting to Process How Moments Lead to Moments (Symbolic...That's Your Call)

Humans aren't the only ones...with intestinal issues. Karallyne Karma Caramel Cupcake is shy with the way she goes about doing her business in the same ways most of us are. I've also contemplated what it must be like to be on a leash, walking, and having to carry about the day. She's a bit shy, and with a male dog, Bucky, at her side, she is more reluctant to do as a dog should do. Chitunga discovered it first. "She won't just go because she thinks she needs to keep moving." The result is usually a horse-esque trot of moving right along and plop, plop, plop, which makes for interesting dog-walker responsibility. She is too shy to stop and go, so she does...well, you know, on the go...go...go.

I was thinking about this when colleagues asked if I've seen the special issue in the Research of Teaching of English, that was dedicated to working with refugee-background youth. One of the articles written by Crystal Chen Lee and Jennifer C. Mann offered a critical-Ubuntu framework for empowering the beautiful young writers so many of us work with. Their article included the following paragraph which warmed my soul, as it is rewarding to see others working on doing better for young people in the world.

Student authors, particularly among the Black African refugee-background

youth, emphasized the theme of community and unity among them in the book.

In sharing and telling their stories, youth emphasized community and one’s own

humanity. This echoes the meaning behind Ubuntu, a Nguni Bantu term, which

has been linguistically rendered in most African languages (Mangena, 2023) and

which encapsulates a philosophical concept that emphasizes collective humanity

at its core (Crandall, 2016). Ubuntu emphasizes “the importance of a group or

community and it finds its clear expression in the Nguni/Ndebele phrase: umuntu

ngumuntu ngabantu, which when translated to Shona means munhu munhu

muvanhu (a person is a person through other persons)” (Mangena, 2023, p. 1).

Ubuntu focuses on “being self through others” and can sometimes be translated

as “I am because we are.” Ubuntu as an axiological framework for human rights

incorporates moral values and shapes the relationship between an individual and

their community (Mkabela, 2014). Noella, like many other authors, highlighted

the beauty of a collective multicultural and multilingual community that con-

tributes to the definition of “we” (Crandall, 2016): a whole self that is made up of

understanding and supporting others within their own refugee community.

Often, I go about doing my own business (trying my best) without realizing that what we put into the world, often gets picked up by others (and the Ubuntu philosophy I learned from my cousin, Mark, and his international work through sports and from the young people along the way that have graced me with their knowledge on why communities matter. An individual becomes an individual within the communities of others.

Yesterday was spent in the Center of Social Impact's Post Road site, discussing the Humanitarian Action minor and the Jesuit traditions of Fairfield University. I was there before the walk and the articles being sent to me. No, African refugee youth have been haulted with U.S. relocations services, but I can attest that their brilliance in our schools has always been educative, enlightening, inspiring, and humbling.

Yes, there is always going to be more work to be done, especially if we want to embrace the power of humanity and all that is possible. 

Happy Strawberry Moon!