“Sawubona” is an ancient part of our African heritage and culture. It is a long-standing Zulu greeting whose connotation, at its root and essence, has cosmological and theological as well as ontological meaning. It literally means, “We see you; we value and respect you; you are important to us.” According to entrepreneur and columnist Roche Mamabolo, “Sawubona [is] more than just a Zulu greeting.” In a post on his website by this same title, Mamabolo writes:
Sawubona, is an ancient is a Zulu greeting which means: We see you. It is equivalent to Hello and Namaste. So, when we meet and greet, I would say “sawubona” [we see you], and you will respond by saying, “yebo, sawubona” [yes, we see you too]. Why do we say, “We” see you even when it is just me, a single, individual person greeting you and why do you respond by the same when it is just you, a single, individual person greeting me? In Zulu tradition, the “I” is connection to an ancient lineage of ancestors which my ancestors are always with me. So, when I meet you, not only is my[S]elf meeting you, but my ancestors whom I’m representing meet you too. Sawubona is an invitation to a deep witnessing and presence. It invites us to communicate, to explore the possibilities of helping each other. It means we witness your journey. Sawubona for me means that as entrepreneurs we need to not only greet our customers, but we need to acknowledge them, to recognise them, to witness them, their feelings, their aspirations. Entrepreneurs that thrive are those that obsess about their customers. They invest in connecting with and, importantly, listening to their customers. They truly see their customers. If you don’t see someone, you will not affect them and as a result you are unlikely to effect positive change to them. Relationship problems start when people don’t see, acknowledge and recognize each other’s hopes and aspirations. In moments of conflict, seeing someone whole is both a noble and a difficult thing. It is [a] worthwhile pursuit because that’s where possibility lives. Seeing goes beyond the physical, it is about the internal, the emotions. It is about care, about warmth, about doing work that matters. When we see people, we see beyond customers, beyond sales prospects and beyond a market gap to be exploited. When we truly see people, is when we see their hopes, dreams and desires. When we truly see people, we see people who needs our humility, our undivided attention, and our assistance. We need to see each other more. Sawubona (www.rochemamabolo.wordpress.com).
Sawubona indeed! At Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference the undergirding thrust of our mission is “to see each other more”, especially given our long history of not being seen. The quest for human rights and social justice is a quest to be seen, to be validated, to be affirmed, heard and valued. Just as Mambolo holds himself as an entrepreneur who is also a representative of the ancestors with the responsibility of seeing the customers who patronize him, not as a commodity to be exploited economically, but rather, as “people with “hopes, dreams and desires”, we, at Proctor, share this sacred responsibility of seeing and responding to the heart, mind, body and soul needs of our people as we too represent our ancestors.