beautiful people.

There is a deeper understanding and appreciation for life that comes from those that suffer. Suffering in the American culture is something that is to be feared more than anything. A culture where doctors are now medicating “unhappiness”. Antidepressants are prescribed more than drugs to treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, or headaches.


But what if someone in these developing countries can teach you more about life than you can wrap your heart around? Something rooted in their very surroundings. Something they could not escape without the mutual understanding of humanity.

"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen."

— Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Ubuntu is an African humanist philosophy. Big shakers such as Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela have spoken of this term on numerous occasions. It is a philosophy practiced among the African people. It is embedded into their being. It is how they have hope that their children will rise to become part of a greater nation.  


Ubuntu means I am because you are. I cannot be human without you. If I cannot be me without you, then I have to make sure that no harm comes to you. If you are hungry, I will feed you. If you are tired I will find you a place to rest. I need you and you need me. We need each other in order to remain human and humane. 

 “When we act upon deeply feeling a sense of being connected to others by our common humanity, when we truly regard self and other as one, when we cherish human dignity, all of our relationships and the level of our behaviors and actions are raised to a higher plane.”

- Reverend William E. Flippin, Jr.Huffington Post

Other human beings make us human beings.

i am because you are.