Celebrate ubuntu at Edmonds Community College on Saturday

Ubuntu. It’s a good word.

Techie types know it as software. Ubuntu is a version of the Linux operating system. That use is borrowed from the true meaning. President Barack Obama described ubuntu in his 2013 eulogy for Nelson Mandela, the late South African president and anti-apartheid leader.

“There is a word in South Africa — ubuntu — a word that captures Mandela’s greatest gift: His recognition that we are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eye; that there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others, and caring for those around us,” Obama said at Mandela’s memorial service.

Ubuntu, a Nguni Bantu term, has been translated as “human kindness.” South African activist and retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu once described it as “the essence of being human.”

At Edmonds Community College on Saturday, the concept of ubuntu will be the inspiration for a gathering focused on unity, education, financial knowledge, health and wellness.

The Ubuntu Multicultural Expose is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in the courtyard of the EdCC campus. Presented by the NAACP Snohomish County Branch, the free event will include information on access to education and health care, and workshops on financial literacy. There also will be visual arts on display, spoken-word performances, art and fitness activities, food trucks and more.

“It’s a first,” said Janice Greene, president of the county’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The group hopes the event will become an annual community celebration, she said.

“We plan on creating some partnerships,” said Greene, who listed as sponsors EdCC, the city of Lynnwood, the Lynnwood Arts Commission, Providence Health & Services, the Verdant Health Commission, Molina Healthcare, the Communities of Color Coalition, and Self-Discovery Publications.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Snohomish County will provide activities for kids at the family-friendly event, Greene said. Nutrition, exercise, access to education, and financial literacy will be key topics for older kids and adults. “There will be good workshops for understanding credit, savings and retirement,” Greene said.

The works of painter Yessica Marquez and Whidbey Island artist Doe Stahr will be among the visual arts on display.

“We partnered with the Lynnwood Arts Commission. Art is really important to community and culture,” said Louis Harris, the local NAACP group’s second vice president. “This being the first year, we’re focusing on creating a community of different ethnicities, races and cultures.”

Greene hopes that despite “wicked heat” predicted for this weekend, people come out to take advantage of “some really high-powered people doing workshops.”

“One of the things we hope is that people get to know people they don’t know, in a relaxed atmosphere,” she said.

In July, Greene spoke to about 100 people at a vigil hosted by the local NAACP chapter. That event, outside the Snohomish County Courthouse in Everett, was in response to the shooting deaths of five Dallas police officers and to two recent killings of black men by police elsewhere. “We’re really beyond the point of just needing to talk,” she said at the vigil.

Greene, who works for the Boeing Co. as an economic development and business intelligence strategy leader, said Wednesday that she has researched the meaning of ubuntu.

“It a good word when we talk about unity,” she said. “We’re all in it together, although sometimes we don’t behave that way.”

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.

Ubuntu event

Saturday at EdCC

Ubuntu Multicultural Expose, presented by the NAACP Snohomish County Branch, is scheduled for 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday on the Edmonds Community College campus, 20000 68th Ave. W., Lynnwood. The free event will feature educational, health and financial literacy information, visual and performing arts, children’s activities, and food trucks. Information: www.naacp-snoco.org/Ubuntu/