Sawubona, the beautiful greeting of an African tribe

Among the tribes of Natal, in South Africa, the most common greeting is Sawubona. It literally means “I see you, you are important to me and I value you.” It is a way of making the other visible, of accepting him as he is with his virtues, nuances and also his defects. In response to this greeting, people often respond “shikoba,” then I exist for you.

Natal was one of the four original provinces of South Africa, and included the bantustan of KwaZulu or land of the Zulu. Most of the things we know about this region and its people undoubtedly date back to the famous war with Great Britain at the end of the 19th century. However, sometimes history books camouflage us, relegate or ignore that interesting cultural, human and philosophical legacy that is rooted in these African peoples.

As curious as it may seem to us, The term sawubona acquired significance in the 90s thanks to a book on engineering and intelligent organizations.. In “The fifth discipline in practice”, Peter Sengue, a professor at Stanford University, talked about the Zulus and their magnificent way of interacting and managing problems among themselves. If they became one of the most powerful civilizations on the African continent, it was not by chance.

Sawubona symbolized the importance of directing one’s attention on the other person. It was understanding their reality without prejudice, barefoot of resentments. It was being aware of the needs of others to give visibility to the individual within the group, integrating them as a piece of value in one’s own community…

Sawubona: I see you in all your reality

In our Western culture the most common greeting is undoubtedly the usual “Hi, how are you”. Most of us express these three words quickly and without waiting for a response. It is an introduction to a conversation, it is that quick and tight greeting with which you look good but end quickly. We rarely look each other in the eyes. Because life urges us, pushes us and projects us more towards our own needs than to scrutinize other perspectives to intuit real needs.

The Zulu people promoted the need to see others consciously and slowly. I was looking for that moment where I could maintain relaxed eye contact where I could look and see. Where to feel and listen. Where to embrace the soul of the other, even if it harbored dark corners, wounds and acts that demanded some type of reparation from the community.

Sawubona is that word where making our trust reach the other, is making them visible and emphasizing that our attention is with them. It is to send him our authentic desire to understand him, to see his needs, desires, fears, sadness, beauties and virtues. Because… Who wouldn’t like to be seen this way? Few things are as enriching as making others visible, giving them space, presence.relevance in our hearts and importance within the group, home, community or organization.

There are those who find a certain similarity between the term sawubona and the namaste of the Hindi language. More than greetings, they are bows and a way to illuminate the other person by communicating souls, wills and reciprocities. There is immense beauty in these gestures so foreign to our world, there is something healing and even cathartic that can serve as inspiration for us in our daily lives.

Let’s see it below.

“Shikoba”, I feel relieved to know that I exist for you

When someone from the Zulu community committed an inappropriate, wrong or offensive act, their presence was required in the center of the village. Their neighbors, friends and family made a circle where the person in question had to stand right in the center. After that, and for two days, they addressed him with the sawubona greeting, with the famous bow and then began to remind him of his good deeds, his virtues, his past successes and all of his qualities.

For the people of Natal and the Zulu community, as for Rousseau, no man was born evil. Sometimes crises and imbalances occur that distance us from that center of natural goodness. The purpose of these meetings was to remind that person of the path back to nobility. They had to show him in turn how important his presence was to the rest of the members of the village. The purpose was to exalt him, to give him visibility so that he could turn his steps towards the path of good, harmony and joy.

And so Every time a member of the community addressed him with the word sawubona, the other had to respond with the term “shikoba.”. This expression generated relief as well as happiness, because whoever initially may have felt alienated from the group due to his bad actions, now had the opportunity to return. It was granted space, relevance and closeness. It was time to start again.

The Zulus hold the idea that human beings exist only if others see and accept them. It is the community that makes the person. Therefore, nothing can be more satisfying than being forgiven after a mistake, than leaving that space of solitude where one lives after an ill-advised act to return to the community, to the communion of the group, knowing that one is visible, loved and accepted.

Let us therefore learn from this African tribe. Let’s learn to “see”, to pay attention to our loved ones as stated in the sawubona greeting: I see you, I accept you just as you are. Let us be able to perceive needs, forgive mistakes and promote cohesion in each of our social settings.

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