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Ubuntu in Action: The ‘One Home Journey’ Connects in Africa

By Rama Mani and Alexander Schieffer
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featured image | by bill wegener

Editor’s Note | Kosmos is a media partner of the One Home Journey. We are pleased to share occasional updates with our readers as this extraordinary seven-year journey unfolds.

Ubuntu in Action: The One Home Journey Begins

Welcomed at the border crossing of South Africa/Uganda by the young Home for Humanity team members, who were all three born in DR Congo, and now living in Nakivale Refugee settlement and working as peace advocates, youth and women leaders. f.r.t.l.: Huguette Feza, Rama Mani, Ruphin Kungwa, Roger Kivatsi, Alexander Schieffer

The first season of Home for Humanity’s One Home Journey catalyzed, championed, and connected initiatives and organizations across six Southern and Eastern African countries. The aim of the One Home Journey is to learn from each other and advance solutions for a more inclusive, regenerative, just, and mutually supportive future—ecologically, socially, culturally, and economically.

At home within ourselves, at home in our community, at home in our workplace, at home on Earth—Dr. Rama Mani and Prof. Alexander Schieffer are researching and strengthening how we can design our organizations and initiatives to be “homes”—healthy and regenerative living and working spaces for everyone. To this end, they launched the Homes for Humanity movement in 2019. The peace activist and her husband, an academic activist, integral philosopher, and poet, embarked on the One Home Journey on World Peace Day, 21 September 2024, dedicating seven years to the next seven generations.

The first leg of the journey took them to local Home for Humanity partners and communities in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Lesotho, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. Crossing national borders and transcending mental and cultural boundaries, they supported pioneering initiatives through workshops, social actions, and dialogue rounds. Key topics included empowering women, children, and youth, community building, peace work, eco-social agriculture, climate and species protection, and artistic communication and technological innovation.

The supported knowledge transfer between these initiatives makes solutions more scalable. Schieffer, reflecting on the journey, remarked:

“These six countries, which bear the signature of our oldest ancestors and earliest life forms and today suffer from the worst consequences of inhumanity and system failure, are showcasing solutions that point to an inclusive future. They teach us to live with deeply rooted cultural values like Umoja (unity), Haki (justice), Amani (peace), and Ubuntu (connectedness), so future generations inherit Nhaka (heritage), worthy of their ancestors.”

Africa as the Starting Point

The One Home Journey deliberately chose Africa, the cradle of humanity, as the starting point for its seven-year journey dedicated to the next seven generations. This choice emphasizes the shared origin of life and humanity. Reflecting on the journey, Mani shared:

“In the heart of Africa, we have identified 20 new Homes for Humanity, now closely connected across national borders. A vibrant network of forward-looking initiatives and visionary personalities is growing. Over the seven years, it will become ever more mutually supportive, creative, and impactful—a global grassroots movement contributing to a regenerative, inclusive, and peaceful future.”

In the studio of Unfold Voices with young leaders, who improve the lives of the people living in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement (Uganda): f.r.t.l. Prof. Alexander Schieffer, Huguette Feza (Women for the Earth lead), Ruphin Kungwa (team lead Home for Humanity) Melianne Muhesi, Founder Unfold Voices, Ishara Mbiso, Founder Arise Nursery and Primary School, and Rama Mani.

Feedback from participants underscores the journey’s impact. Huguette Feza, an aspiring leader at the Home for Humanity Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda, reflected:

“When I see that we’ve achieved so much in just one season, I imagine with great hope where we can be in seven years! Holding the globe in my hand, I feel like I have a home where I belong and where my voice is heard.”

Rook Otieno, Kenya, physics students and intern at “Sauti Kuu Foundation”, a Home for Humanity.

Rook Otieno, a Kenyan physics student and intern at the Home for Humanity Sauti Kuu Foundation, shared:

“This is very inspiring. Seeing what we young people are doing for humanity makes me want to do more. I know that what we’re doing here will have a collective impact, in our country and the world.”

Impact of the First Season

In the first season in Southern and Eastern Africa:

  • 800 children from nine schools envisioned their futures and received motivation to realize their dreams.
  • 620 young people, mainly from marginalized areas, were empowered to discover and fulfill their potential as engaged future leaders.
  • 200 women, often facing oppression, were given opportunities to network, develop strengths, and work toward their visions.
  • 20 local initiatives joined the Homes for Humanity alliance, strengthening their reach and impact.
  • 2,000 activists participated in workshops and dialogues, expanding their initiatives’ effectiveness.
  • 200,000 people globally gained valuable knowledge and examples in areas like regenerative economy, sustainable agriculture, education, women’s rights, and peacebuilding.

Over 5,000 people worldwide participated virtually in the first season, through Earth Family Country Calls and Earth Letters, fostering engagement and connection.

Looking Ahead

The second season of the One Home Journey is dedicated to Asia-Oceania, including Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan during the first quarter of 2025.

Further information:

About Rama Mani

Dr. Rama Mani is a transformative performance artist, and an artisan of integral peace, justice and education, who is passionate about nurturing an inclusive and regenerative future for all life on Earth.

Dr. Mani is the Co-Founder of Home for Humanity movement for planetary regeneration, together with Professor Alexander Schieffer, her husband. Both are also co-initiators of the new One Home UnivEARTHsity for regenerative future building, which will be built up country by country, culture by culture, and home by home during the One Home Journey: 2024-2030: Seven Years for Seven Generations.

Dr. Mani is a Councillor of World Future Council, a Fellow of the World Academy for Arts and Sciences, and a member of the Evolutionary Leaders’ Circle. www.HomeforHumanity.Earth  ; www.Rama-Mani.com; www.TheatreofTransformation.org Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rama-mani-b496927a/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/RamaManiNews

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About Alexander Schieffer

Alexander Schieffer is a transformative educator, engaged activist, passionate community builder, integral philosopher, and spiritual poet and performer.

He completed his doctorate and lectures at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, teaching Integral Development and Self and Societal Transformation. Alexander is also on the faculty of Da Vinci Institute, South Africa, as a Professor for Integral Development.

In 2006, together with Professor Ronnie Lessem, Alexander co-founded TRANS4M Academy for Integral Transformation, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with an active, interconnected community of transformative scholar-practitioners spread on all continents. Together, they developed the Integral Worlds approach – an innovative, transcultural framework for individual, organisational and societal transformation. In 2023, he was invited to join the Evolutionary Leaders, a group of global thought leaders from diverse disciplines who come together in synergy to help support a shift in consciousness.

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