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“Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu.”
Literally: “A person is a person through other people.”
Nguni (Zulu/Xhosa), Southern Africa
What it means
This is the philosophical root of Ubuntu, often translated as 'I am because we are.' It holds that a person's humanity is bound up in their relationships with others — you become fully yourself through community, not apart from it. Ubuntu became especially well known internationally through South Africa's post-apartheid reconciliation process.
This proverb is rooted in South Africa, part of Southern Africa.
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