Ubuntu Life Co-Founder Zane Wilemon recently returned to Kenya after two years away due to COVID-19 travel restrictions between the US and Kenya. Zane shares his most recent experience at our Special Needs Centre in a profoundly moving personal blog on human connection and belonging.
Back In Kenya, & It Feels So Good
As we walk into the Busy Bees classroom at the Ubuntu Life Special Needs Centre, the children and teachers joyfully scream in unison, hands in the air cheering, warmly welcoming me back to Kenya. Instinctively, I responded by throwing my hands in the air while smiling ear to ear under my facemask. The second I walked into the room and the love enveloped me, my heart opened, and my agenda-oriented way of thinking and acting melted away, and something dormant for some time emerges — a vulnerable uninhibited childlike connection.
I sit down in a mini chair close to the kiddos, who are gathered around on the multi-colored rug. Five-year-old Stanley Mwangi Muturi, one of the more bold kiddos, stands up, walks around the circle of kids, starts to give enthusiastic hugs first to my co-founder Jeremiah Kuria, then to me, before closing out the round of affection with an extra-special bear hug for Mary Kuria, the head of school.
Being in the presence of our Ubuntu Kids and being back immersed in the Foundation programs brings with it a vital reminder to our humanity. We are more than our accomplishments, greater than our schedules, deeper than our possessions and vacations. We are at our core fragile, vulnerable, emotionally in need creatures who desperately need to be hugged, need to belong, need to feel needed. Our Ubuntu Kids have a unique way of getting right to what's important:
Are you going to hug me back?
Are you going to put your phone down, look me in the eye, and smile with me?
Are you going to laugh and play with me?
It's an honor to learn from our growing and flourishing Ubuntu Life Foundation team. I got to witness first-hand their incredible commitment in service to our kiddos and their families. The Foundation's education program is at an all-time high attendance rate, and the parent-body is more engaged than ever before — showing up for parent-teacher meetings and paying school fees on time.
This impact is due to the excellence of the Foundation team, their commitment, the level of care they are providing for our kiddos, and how thoroughly they are communicating this daily progress daily to parents. It is remarkable to see, and I don't think I've ever been this impressed with what is happening here at the Ubuntu Life Special Needs Centre.
Walking the newly built and almost finished Children's Wellness Centre (CWC) grounds has been equally inspiring. It is easily ten times the size of our current space, which will provide immediate opportunities to enhance the care we are giving to our current students and patients. This new structure and additional space will bring with it significant growth potential for all the Foundation’s programs. When I think about the countless lives that will be impacted for years to come, I am reminded why Jeremiah and I started Ubuntu Life. The enduring calling to serve Maai Mahiu's most marginalized people and build something that would outlive us and benefit future generations.
I give thanks to the Foundation's incredible team of educators, healers, and medical professionals. And I am eternally grateful for our generous Tribe Heart members, and donors who continue to believe in our vision and understand our basic human need to care for each other and belong.
