The Daily UbuntuFor Young Readers
For young readers.
True, uplifting stories that are easy to read, chosen for ages 8 to 11.
Every story ends with a question to talk about, and can be printed as a sheet for class.
Lend Me a Hand
In 2011, a South African carpenter lost fingers in an accident. With a stranger in the United States, he invented a mechanical hand, then gave it away to the whole world.
ReadHelp Yourself
In 2008, in Todmorden, England, two women planted vegetables in the public spaces of their town so that anyone could pick them. The idea travelled around the world.
ReadThe Same Christmas Carol
At Christmas 1914, on the Western Front, British and German soldiers climbed out of their trenches. They sang, traded tobacco and buried their dead together.
ReadThe Bruin Who Saw with One Eye
On January 18, 1958, at the Montreal Forum, Willie O'Ree became the first Black player in the NHL. He was nearly blind in one eye, and no one knew.
ReadEight Hundred Volunteers and a Promise
In the summer of 2015, in Guelph, a business leader decided to sponsor 50 Syrian families. More than 800 volunteers of every faith followed him.
ReadA Game Where the Old Beat the Young
In 2017, at 81, a retired Japanese bank employee released her first app, designed for people her age. Apple invited her to California.
ReadCustomer 229
One December morning in Winnipeg, 228 drivers in a row paid for the coffee of the car behind them. A gesture that echoes an old Naples custom: the "suspended" coffee.
ReadThe Zebra-Striped Suitcase
In 2009, in Amsterdam, a journalist dreamed up a café where neighbours fix broken things together. Today there are thousands, as far as Montreal.
ReadGrilled Cheese with an Iron
In Toronto, two teenage sisters taught the internet to seniors. In return, an 89-year-old woman showed them how to make grilled cheese with an iron.
ReadThe Woman Who Stayed Standing
On December 14, 1995, MP Jean Augustine stayed on her feet in the House of Commons during the vote that made February Black History Month in Canada.
ReadThe Cedar Grandparent
In 1929, a Nisg̱a'a memorial pole was taken all the way to Scotland. In 2023, after 94 years away, hundreds of people welcomed it home.
ReadPaddles Up
In August 2026, Indigenous paddlers, police officers and sailors travelled down the Fraser River in the same canoes. On the shore, the Nations were waiting for them.
ReadTen Seed Packets and a Stranger from Toronto
In Langley, a blind man sorted his seeds with help from a stranger in Toronto, over a video call. The Be My Eyes app now connects one million blind people with ten million volunteers.
ReadWhen the World Landed in Gander
On September 11, 2001, a Newfoundland town of about 10,000 people opened its doors to more than 6,500 strangers. Twenty-five years later, their gratitude is still putting young people through school.
ReadHolding the door
Holding a door, smiling at the barista, offering a hot chocolate: research shows these small gestures matter far more than we think, for others and for ourselves.
ReadThe fridge that doesn't ask your name
In Montreal, community fridges set up on sidewalks let people give and take without giving a name, while demand for food aid soars in Quebec.
ReadThe Paix des Braves, as equals
On February 7, 2002, in Waskaganish, Quebec and the Cree replaced years of lawsuits with a nation-to-nation agreement on the territory and the forest.
ReadRecess regained
Since 2024, cellphones have been banned in class in Quebec. Since September 2025, they have been banned throughout the school. At one school in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, students have filled the gym and the library again.
ReadStrength in numbers
In 1900, in Lévis, Alphonse and Dorimène Desjardins launched the first caisse populaire, to free modest families from usury. An Ubuntu idea before its time.
ReadThe tontine, a bank of trust
In 1998, in Alberta, newly arrived refugees began saving together. From tontines to the stokvels of South Africa, mutual trust takes the place of interest and credit.
ReadThe "boat people" and a medal for a whole people
In 1979-1980, thousands of Canadians sponsored refugees from Southeast Asia themselves. In 1986, the UN awarded its Nansen Medal to the whole population of Canada.
ReadSyrian refugees: a winter of welcome
In the winter of 2015-2016, Canada welcomed more than 25,000 Syrian refugees, several thousand of them in Quebec, with the help of thousands of sponsors.
ReadBorrow a person for twenty minutes
In 2000, in Denmark, the Human Library was born: you borrow a person instead of a book, for a conversation. The idea has travelled the world, all the way to Montreal's libraries.
ReadThe community freezer
In Nunavik, nearly eight in ten people experience food insecurity. Yet almost everyone gives or receives food: here, game is shared before it is sold.
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