African Values
- Greeting
- Greet people whenever you see them; even strangers. Ignoring anyone is rude.
- Strangers
- Welcome strangers, respect them, and treat them well, because they may return the favour
in the future. The good you do for someone else will eventually be paid back to you.
- Elders
- Respect your elders. They have many years of experience. They know and hold the
traditional values that have always kept communities together. Their minds are less
poisoned by the modern world than young minds.
- Integrity
- You will be judged not by how you look, what you wear, or what you have, but who you are
and how you act.
- Honesty
- If you do something bad, people will find out about it. It helps keep you honest.
- Responsibility
- No person is an island. Each person exists as a part of the community. No one cannot act
without consequence. Each person has great responsibility. You always have a role,
responsibility and duties in the community, determined by your age, gender, health and
abilities.
- Selflessness
- Share what you have, even if it is very little. Do not be selfish.You must struggle
against the community's problems and not be content to please yourself. Work for the
common good.
- Extended Family
- The young, the elderly and the handicapped live at home and are the responsibility of
the extended family. Invest in your child's education, because he or she will get a job to
support the extended family. People survive even with 50% unemployment because the workers
support their extended families.
- Monogamy
- One man, one woman is not always practical; polygamy and the extended family system
often works better in traditional settings. Do not marry if you cannot afford it.
- Entertainment
- Entertainment for its own sake is foolish. Film, music and literature should be didactic
and instructive; it should contain a moral message.
- Time
- Time is subjective. There is plenty of time. Don't let time control you. Your watch
cannot tell you when an event should begin or end.
- Judgment
- When evaluating the time, food, a car, a house or a person, scientific statistics and
numbers are less important than your own feelings.
- Land and Environment
- The environment is sacred; it should be protected and preserved. Land is the property of
nobody and everybody; it should be shared. It belongs to the ancestors and to the unborn
as well as to the living. Each family should farm as much land as they need. Access should
be equal.
- Holism
- Medical cures must take into account the mind and the body together. Science must
synthesise its results, not merely analyse its data.
- Death
- Death is part of nature and should be discussed openly as something natural. The
ancestors exist in the minds of the living; they influence and guide their actions.
- Religion
- Religion should not be based on sadness, guilt and suffering but joyous celebrations.