Ubuntu

from the South African writer Zakes Mda:

     When we black children of South Africa were growing up, we were taught by our parents, but especially our grandparents, that we were not fully human until someone made us human. Humanity, our elders believed, was not something you were born with. Rather, it was endowed by other people. You were therefore a person because of other people. They called this philosophy Ubuntu in the Nguni languages and Botho in the Sotho languages. And how do others endow you with humanity? By giving you bounties of compassion and generosity... When you thanked someone who had been compassionate and generous to you, you uttered the words: "You have made me into a person." As a beneficiary of ubuntu you had to make others into people, too, by showering them with compassion and generosity. Through deeds of compassion and generosity you could attain a high level of humanity."