Watoto wadogo wamekisoma!

Today, I am posting from a laptop that isn't running Microsoft Windows software, it is running Ubuntu.

If you 'ask' Wikipedia about Ubuntu you will be told:

1. Ubuntu (philosophy) is an ethical concept of African origin


2. Ubuntu (operating system), in computing, is a free operating system based on a version of Linux (Unix)

Ubuntu, pronounced (oo-BOON-too), is an ethic or humanist philosophy focusing on people's allegiances and relations with each other. The word has its origin in the Bantu languages of southern Africa. Ubuntu is seen as a classical African concept.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu offered a definition:

A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.

One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu - the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality - Ubuntu - you are known for your generosity.

We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.

Nelson Mandela explained Ubuntu as follows:

A traveler through a country would stop at a village and he didn't have to ask for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food, entertain him. That is one aspect of Ubuntu but it will have various aspects. Ubuntu does not mean that people should not enrich themselves. The question therefore is: What are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you to be able to improve?

As I admire the philosophy, it seems only fitting to me that I should put Ubuntu on my Laptop.

Unbuntu's website states:

Ubuntu is and always will be free to use, share and develop. We hope it will bring a touch of light to your computing – and we hope that you'll join us in helping to build the next version too.

I hope learning Ubuntu isn't as hard as learning Bantu (which includes Swahili), the language(s) of East, Central and Southern Africa. I'm getting kind of old for learning new tricks. Time will tell as a friend of mine often says, but so far, things are going pretty well.

Watoto wadogo wamekisoma! (The children have read a book!) Hopefully someday, they will post a blog.