Mungi Ngomane

It was September 19, 2019, in Britain. A book was reaching the shops. In its title was a word from Southern Africa: ubuntu.

Its author had once typed that word into a search engine. The results were about computers. An operating system.

She wanted to make the word known beyond technology.

Her name was Nompumelelo Ngomane. People called her Mungi.

She was the granddaughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. She had grown up in a community that taught her ubuntu as soon as she could walk and talk.

At home, she was told that a person with ubuntu lives a life others want to follow.

Her family never pushed her to follow in their footsteps. But their care for justice and human dignity shaped her own values.

Mungi studied at SOAS, University of London. She earned a master's degree in international studies and diplomacy.

Then she worked on conflict resolution in the Middle East. She also worked for women and girls. In the United States, she coordinated a campaign against Islamophobia and discrimination.

She stood up for the rights of women and girls, and for the protection of refugees.

And she had a word, tattooed on her wrist: ubuntu.

She wrote Everyday Ubuntu. Her grandfather wrote the foreword.

The book offered fourteen lessons, all simple. Be kind. Forgive. Be tolerant. Listen.

The first lesson said: see yourself in other people. For Mungi, it was the most important.

She explained that no one makes themselves alone. We are who we are because of others: our parents, our teachers, those who guided us.

For her, ubuntu recognizes the worth of every human being, starting with oneself.

She also recalled where this wisdom came from. A wisdom with Zulu roots, passed down by word of mouth for generations. Its meaning changes a little from one country and one people to another. But the heart remains: a person is a person through other persons.

In the book, she quoted her grandfather's words:

In a quarrel, she preferred to argue to resolve, not to win.

She loved one proverb in particular: the one about the mosquito. It reminded her that she could make a difference.

In October 2021, her grandfather turned 90. Mungi published a piece about the lessons he had taught her.

She wrote that he prayed every day. She, who was not religious, kept a quiet moment each morning instead.

She wrote about the former English teacher who cared about good grammar. And about the grandfather who had tried to explain rugby and cricket to her.

She also wrote that she drew on his example to forgive. He said: forgiving is not forgetting. It is, in fact, remembering.

Mungi Ngomane carried her family's word out of the house. She put it in a book, within everyone's reach.

On her wrist, six letters remain. Not the name of a piece of software. The name of a way of living together.