How About a Game of Osani?

I read a story about an anthropologist who proposed a game to an African tribe’s children. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told them that whoever got there first would win the sweet fruits. When he told them to run, they took each other’s hands and ran together, then sat and enjoyed the fruit together. When he asked them why they had run like that as one could have had all the fruits for himself, they said: “UBUNTU, ‘How can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?’” UBUNTU’ in the Xhosa culture means: “I am because we are.” Can you imagine how much better the world would be if everyone lived by that motto? Isn’t that the way God wants His kids to live?

This photo is of the Efé children of Zaire (Congo, Central Africa) playing the Osani Circle Game. The game teaches that we are much better when we work as a team and think about each other before ourselves. It teaches that each individual can achieve so much more when they approach situations with the mindset and focus on love and cooperation rather than competition. Osani (the Efé word for love),begins by sitting in a circle, feet touching, all connected. Then, for example, each child in turn names a round object like the sun, the moon, a star, an eye and then goes on to name a figurative expression of “round” like the circle of the family. What I love most in this photo is the closeness of the children — a circle of togetherness, of community, creativity, enjoying each other’s company and celebrating the different perspectives each of them bring to the circle.

I often add words to the photos I post on my blogs. In this photo’s case, I picked a font that I thought looked somewhat “African” in my mind’s eye. Not until I looked at it, after the fact, did I realize the i’s in that font, even though it’s the uppercase lettering, is still a lower case “i”. Aw! Being a little i in life when it comes to wanting to have it my way, or what i want or what pleases me. It’s what WE ARE together. WE share. WE love. WE serve. WE give. WE go for what’s right together. WE WIN together. UBUNTU — i AM because we ARE!

Today, I’m thinking of ways that we can join our hands and hearts together to be a part of something greater than i — greater than my 4 and no more — greater than “What’s in it for me?” What if we began to pray and humble ourselves to become servants that live a life of “What can i do for you? What can i do for the cause? What can i do for the team? What can i do for others?” UBUNTU — i AM because we ARE!

There is so much competition in life — between family members, co-workers, friends, political and news pundits, and so many others. I wonder “What if we thought more like these kids….”I am…because WE ARE!” Those kids sound like the kids that God calls us to be: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:2-3)

How about a game of Osani? i AM because we ARE!