Ubuntu

'In South Africa, we look everyone in the eye when we walk the streets. We greet one another. That is what we call Ubuntu: you see the other and the other sees you.’

This is Matt talking, Ilian’s father. He brings his son to childcare centre Tierlantuin in Ghent. When we ask him why he appreciates Tierlantuin, he immediately starts talking about ubuntu.

African philosophy

This Sub-Saharan philosophy is all about dedication among people. Some translate it as ‘being one’ or ‘being me because of us’. It is about humanity towards each other. Or even more, about becoming human thanks to the other.

Vulnerable neighbourhood in Ghent

For years now, Tierlantuin has been working on ubuntu. This childcare centre for babies and toddlers is situated in the heart of the Rabot area in Ghent: a densely populated area with quite a lot of families living in precarious and vulnerable circumstances.

EVENS award for Peace Education

The visibility and accessibility of this centre in the area, the close cooperation with parents and the people in the surrounding neighbourhood, as well as the approach towards diversity in the daily work, contributed to Tierlantuin winning the Evens Prize for Peace Education 2015.

This award was the ultimate occasion for Tierlantuin to share its story. How do they support young children and their families in growing up in and inclusive and democratic society? Tierlantuin than asked VBJK to make a documentary about their daily work with the children, their families and the people of the neighbourhood.

Child, family, community

In this Ubuntu documentary, the city of Ghent and Tierlantuin make it very clear that a childcare centre is not an island. But how do you make this happen in everyday life? How do you work together with families, neighbours and partner organisations in the area?

Tierlantuin’s Ubuntu inspires other early childhood services to get to work on community cooperation, on respecting diversity and in this way on… peace education.

Trailer & menu

ENG: At the bottom of this page you can check the trailer of the documentary Ubuntu, the French full version and the English full version. 
FR: En bas de cette page, vous pouvez consulter la bande-annonce du documentaire Ubuntu, la version complète française et la version complète anglaise.

You can either watch the film as a whole, or watch specific parts of it during a training, a pedagogical colloquium or a team meeting. These are the main themes:

• defining your place in the neighbourhood, the community

• children and parents both are welcome

• focus on quality

• children bond with each other

• building a collective, a togetherness