On June 5th, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Wakanyi Hoffman.

Wakanyi Hoffman is a storyteller, author, mother, and global citizen. Formerly a journalist for Kenya's largest newspaper, she is currently based in the Netherlands, where she teaches the art of oral storytelling to promote a values-based education for young children and diversify the knowledge base of global citizenship education. A "global nomad" with strong African roots, Wakanyi and her husband have been raising their four multicultural and mixed race children across three continents, on a mission to teach them to embrace the whole world as their home. She harnesses the ancient wisdom of her cultural roots for today's internet-globalized youth through African Folktales Project, an open-sourced resource of indigenous wisdom and knowledge for school children. Guided by the African Ubuntu philosophy, Wakanyi meets new cultures as “an opportunity to learn about the many ways that we express being and becoming more human.”

Below are some of the nuggets from the call that stood out for me ...

• First, Wakanyi is grounded in an authentic storytelling tradition in which she learned wisdom, culture, and values at the feet of her elders through the stories they told.
• At one point she mentioned a profound lesson she learned from her mom that has been practical for her in her life as a global nomad. Wakanyi’s mom explained that wherever she goes she’ll meet people who are different from her, who speak a different language. But if she can see the other person "as an old friend, or a sister or a brother, an auntie or an uncle, then in that moment everything that stands between you just melts away.”
• Wakanyi said she feels we often “overthink the idea of identity—who we are, what our nationalities are, where we come from.” She feels all of these things can stand in the way of us really connecting. In fact, she said, “Those differences are what make us connect. Once we harmonize the differences, we find something that we have in common. The differences become the story of who we are. This is what makes us connect. This is what makes us one. This is the Ubuntu Way.”
• Wakanyi illustrated the essence of the Ubuntu Way through the example of a simple greeting in which one person says, “I am here to be seen.” The other person responds with “And I see you.” By beginning an interaction with this affirmation, both people commit to a deeper level of listening, seeing, and understanding.
• She talked about how conflict doesn’t and shouldn’t define us, it’s simply what we’re encountering at the time. Too often we’re quick to blame others as being the source of a conflict. This can lead to dehumanizing those who we feel don’t share our values. By resisting the impulse to blame others, if we instead see a person’s authentic self, it’s far easier to resolve conflicts.
• I was struck by Wakanyi’s idea that we’re all indigenous people. That hundreds of years from now, we will be regarded as the native people of the lands we now inhabit. She said that as part of considering ourselves indigenous people we should “Start with the stories you want to share with your children about where we are today, and then make your way backwards and discover how we got to this point.”
• As to the importance of stories in finding common ground, Wakanyi said, "We suffer a lot of misconceptions because we don’t share stories. We don’t hear each other very well. We don’t see each other very well. And if we just open up our eyes to the world, to that window into another person’s life, we’ll be able to see that we’re all just navigating life, trying to do the same things to live peacefully, to have food on the table, to educate our children, to pass down the stories.”

Lots of gratitude to all the behind-the-scenes volunteers that made this call happen!

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Additional Nuggets from the Transcript:

On the origins and roles of stories and storytellers: In summers, "one would go back to the countryside and there then you'd find the grandmothers and the grandfathers -- you know, the storytellers and that's sort of where the stories emerged. ... They were stories that came up in moments. So it would always depend on the moment that you're in, someone's grandmother or your grandmother would then share a story that was relevant to a situation that you were in. It could be a story warning you about somewhere you shouldn't go or something you shouldn't eat. So in this way, it was always knowledge about their land, knowledge about yourself and social values as well as spiritual values -- and this is how stories emerged. So we didn't really think of them as -- I didn't think of it as an education, as a form of a native education until much later on when I was older.  I realized that actually was the foundation of my formative education -- through these stories that were shared by grandmothers."

"You know, stories are living. They're living in our heads. They're living in our minds. They're living in so many different people. So to me, indigenous knowledge is the source of all of our knowledge. It isn't knowledge that is separate from us. In that way, if you begin to think of indigenous stories, or stories in general, as being reminders of who we are. These personal narratives that we carry, they are just contributions to the bigger story of humanity."

Importance of diverse stories and limits of identity amid an "ubuntu mindset": "books that reflect who you are -- your culture, your language, and your race even, they speak to who you identify with at the beginning of your life. And when that is not reflected in your learning environment and that can have a negative effect on a child."

"We can do a much better job of embracing who we are and where we are and the cultures of all of us without having to make a lot of noise about it, or completely dismantle the system or create other imbalances. That's not what we're trying to do. We're saying, can we all co-exist? Can we all bring our stories and see what emerges out of that moment of connecting with each other?"

"I think we overthink the idea of identity, who we are, what our nationalities are, where we come from. All these things stand in the way of us really connecting, really understanding each other because then we start to see differences rather than embracing that difference. You start to find that difference as a fearful thing. It's something to be afraid of. But, actually those differences are what make us connect because in the differences, once we harmonize the differences, once we find out how well connected we are, we find something that we have in common. Then the differences become just the story of who we are, the story of how we did things differently and look here we are, we found each other in this moment. This is what makes us connect. This is what makes us one -- really. It is an 'Ubuntu mindset' or 'Ubuntu concept'. But it is really just the idea of humanity. It's a global thing. It's a global idea but I believe it lives in each one of us -- really."

"I think your identity is what's important to you. So we have to investigate what you're identifying with. Are you identifying -- in that moment, who are you identifying with? I think it's important to identify with your culture, with your cultural background. At the same time, it's important to identify with the community in which you're living -- and that's where you find your grounding, in that moment where you are."

A practice of the Ubuntu Way: "I am here to be seen" and "I see you": "The Ubuntu way, to me, is just another form of expressing who we are as human beings. ... I don't really think it's an 'African mindset.' I think it's a global mindset. I think it's who we are. I'll do a little exercise with you, Brian. ...

There's a greeting that goes with the idea of being, of practicing the Ubuntu way of living, in an Ubuntu way. This is a greeting from the Shawna language in Southern Africa. It is a way of identifying each other and identifying each other's humanity. This is how it goes. I'll say something and I'll ask you to say back. What I'll say is, 'I am here to be seen' and you're going to say to me, 'And I see you.' Then you're going to respond to me, 'I am here to be seen' and I will say, 'I see you.' Are you ready?  Can we try that? ...

That's it. That's all you ever need to remember. So, in a way, when you think about it that way, if I am presenting myself, if I have this confidence to say, I am here to be seen, it means that everyone else that knows me, that I'm representing, I am now their diplomat. I'm their cultural diplomat. I'm standing here saying I am here to be seen. But what I'm really saying is myself and everyone else that has any contact or any connection with me, this is how we want to be seen.

This usually happens at the moment where you're encountering differences or other people that are strange or you're in a strange land or a foreign land. The other person then responds, I am here to be seen and then I tell them, I see you too. So, what I'm seeing is I'm seeing Brian and I'm seeing everything else about Brian, where he's from and all of the rest of it, which is similar to where I'm coming from because we both want to be seen.  So any difference that happens, any conflict that happens should happen in the context of we're two human beings and we are facing this conflict. So the conflict does not define us. The conflict is what we're encountering.

If we are unable to sort out the differences, then another person can come in because we see them too. Do you see the problem in front of us? Yes, I see the problem. I see you, Brian. I see you, Audrey. I see you, Wakanyi -- and I also see the problem that we're all facing. So in this way, we are not the sum of our mistakes. We are not the sum of our problems and nobody is to blame. Whatever has emerged in between us and in between any group of people becomes the problem that needs to be solved by everyone because it affects everyone equally.

So this is sort of the mindset, the Ubuntu way, the idea of being humanity .... What you want to do whenever you encounter other people is to allow yourself to encounter that person in the way that you would like to be encountered. So it goes back to the Cardinal golden rule that exists in every spiritual, religious, space: do unto others as you would like them to do unto you. Also, I would add to that, do unto yourself as you would like yourself to be. Present yourself in the best way that you know yourself rather than see yourself as, rather than judge yourself based on your mistakes or based on what problems you might have occurred to you or what your background is, present yourself as your true self, the person that you really believe to be and in that moment, that's all people are seeing. You know, people will always believe the presentation that you give. So if it is an authentic, true identity that you have, if you're presenting your true honest self, that's then what you're giving to the world, you're presenting your true nature. You're not presenting yourself as the sum of your problems or your mistakes or your family or some type of trauma or whatever else. You're truly presenting yourself as who you deep down believe you are. That's the best version of yourself that you can never present in any moment no matter what your circumstances.  So I think that is the essence of Ubuntu."

On cultural appropriation of stories: "With cultural appropriation, as with everything else, I think it boils down to intention. What is the intention? What is the agenda that you're trying to set?

If, for instance, let's say it’s Halloween in America, right? Children are looking for costumes and they want to wear a particular costume. I think in that moment, as a parent, you've got to ask yourself, am I teaching my child to honor the heritage of a native American headpiece, for instance, or am I mocking that particular culture by doing that?

I think it doesn't take much. It's a question of what do you intend to do with that information? I tell a lot of stories that aren't from my tribe.  For instance, I tell a lot of stories that are not from Kenya. This week I told a story from Zimbabwe. It's not a Zimbabwean story. It's the story emerged out of Zimbabwe and I'm borrowing it from whoever the last storyteller was and then I'm reimagining it and hoping to tell it in the way that it was originally told. So it's the intention there that one has to be careful about when you're talking cultural appropriation, honoring the source and being able to acknowledge that this wasn't your story, or this wasn't your culture, or this wasn't your headpiece for instance, or your clothing and all the rest. If at any point you're actually able to draw in the actual source of that knowledge or source of that culture -- you know, a person from that country or whatever -- and have them come in and have a seat at the table and be able to even present the knowledge on their own.  If you can play that role, what better way of being culturally appropriate than by actually allowing the people from that culture to be able to speak for themselves?

So it's very much a power struggle, I think, and I think underneath all of that is the intention. I think we have to be very intentional about what we want to do with the cultures of the world that are underrepresented. If you're in a position to allow them to come and speak through you, then do that. If you're able to speak on their behalf, make sure that you're speaking truly on their behalf, that you have their blessings and you have the information from them really and not try and distort it to set a different agenda. I think that's usually the problem."

We all have stories an we're all indigenous to the earth, regardless of our heritage: "I've never met someone who doesn't have a story to tell. So I think the stories live in us and they just have to emerge at the right moments.

Well, I think, first and foremost, if you start with just where you are -- find the stories that are relevant to you, wherever you are -- you will be able to create a story that is relevant to your space, to the experience that you have been having and to where you live. If you're trying to rediscover stories from the past -- I mean, you can do that obviously through books, you can reach out to members of your extended family, there are all kinds of ways to find those stories.

But I really believe it's a matter of trusting yourself to be able to pass down the knowledge to your children that you want to. That's how folktales were made to begin with. They were stories that, within them, values were embedded within these stories. I don't think that the original storytellers considered themselves as storytellers. Perhaps they didn't even think of themselves as telling stories. They just thought they were teaching children what they knew, what children needed to know and then they said it through oral storytelling. ...

Another thing I’d like to say to everyone and this is something really important to me -- we're all indigenous to this earth. We are the indigenous people right now. Hundreds of years from now, they'll write, they'll talk about us, as if we lived years and years ago, much as we're talking about indigenous communities. We are going to be indigenous in the long distant future. In that way, if you can consider yourself as an indigenous person today, then start with the stories that you want to share with your children about where we're at today and then make your way backwards. Discover how we made it to this point. How did we make it to where we have the pandemic happening? Then step back, you know, how did we rediscover the steps that led to your being there?

If you're from a different country and you've migrated to say the US or wherever you're from -- you're part of the diaspora -- that's certainly an amazing tale to tell your children. Retrace your story back to where you came from and then bring it in to where you are and then recall the stories from your parents or your grandmothers. If you're a second- or third-generation American, there are so many stories about where you came from. If you're from, my husband's heritage is English and German -- there are so many stories, fairy tales and folktales that we've discovered that we didn't know anything about -- and that's part of discovering that wisdom.

That wisdom has traveled with us. It isn't dedicated to one place. Indigenous cultures, I think, is a misconception. We think of them as -- and yet a lot of them have lived in one place now -- but these borders weren't there before. These were nomadic tribes that traveled all around in different parts of the world and they took with them the stories, which is why we have all these stories available to us. It's because they traveled. They weren't located in one place. So, if you think of it in that way, take the story, whatever story you have today, reimagine it and then try and discover where the original backstory might have come from and then in that way you will discover the storytelling. I think all of us are storytellers."

On being rooted to values over place or identity: "I think that being rooted -- you're rooted in your values. You're not rooted in a place. Or at least that's how I look at it. Your values make you who you are and you can live anywhere in the world, as long as you believe in the things that you know to be true about all of us.

That comes back to the same thing. If you can see yourself reflected in another person, then that in itself makes you rooted where you are. ...

I've gone through this myself, how much Swahili do my kids understand, Swahili being the language in Kenya. But then at the same time, I had to understand that Swahili is not even my native language. It's just the national language in Kenya. My original mother tongue is a whole other language out of the 50 tribes in Kenya, so which language do I want my children to learn if I was to really be authentic, you know?

Then I realized that at some point you have to be able to communicate with other people -- whether that is in their language, the local language being spoken by everyone, that's the language you embrace. You know, these identities were formed back when people moved elsewhere and they became integrated into society. I think when you hold so much into these identities, they can tend to also divide us rather than bring us together. So you present yourself as who you are in that moment and make sure that the values of the people, whose shoulders you sit on, are visible to everyone. So if you're sitting on your Chinese ancestors, then it's visible to everyone, but that it is not a moment to divide you or to distinguish you from the other person. Just be whoever you are in that moment, be of a certain heritage, but in that moment be a human to the other person and then your stories of where you come from will then be part of the story of all of you, rather than the differences that you share, you know?"

A Vision of an Intergenerational Network of Storytellers to Guide Us in Crisis: "I would just love to see more children engaging with the older generation. I think we are coming to a moment of crisis, really. The word crisis is not really it.  But I think it's a moment of reconciling who we are. I think we need to discover who we are by going back to the stories that led to where we are. I think children and grandchildren, just being able to see that connection happening ... -- a network of storytellers, grandmothers and children coming together and telling stories. I think that would be beautiful."

Believe you have something to tell the world: "I think that's where my story telling comes from, is this idea of 'think for yourself. Believe that you have something to tell the world, and use all your senses -- feel, sense, smell, you know, hear things -- take it all together and make it all into one little story for yourself. You have it in you, I think.'"