Archbishop Tutu visits Marlborough House to launch toolkit

Archbishop Desmond Tutu visited Marlborough House, headquarters to both the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth Foundation, last week to launch a new toolkit to link schools, councils and other local bodies with similar organisations around the world.

Before the ceremony he met Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon and discussed his concern for a blossoming democracy in Nigeria. He hoped that Nigeria could recover from the recent flawed elections to become an example to the rest of Africa.

At the launch, on 29 June 2007, the Archbishop used the South African concept of ‘Ubuntu’ to describe the value of links and partnerships.

Citing the biblical story of Adam and Eve, he said: “A solitary human being is something of a contradiction in terms. None of us can be totally self-sufficient.

“This story speaks about ‘Ubuntu’ -- the essence of being human, that says ‘I am, because you are’.”

Archbishop Tutu, an icon of the anti-apartheid struggle and Nobel laureate, noted that human beings needed other human beings in order to be human: “We are made for interdependence. All sorts of things go horribly wrong when we break this.”

A very small fraction of the world’s defence budgets would enable every child on earth to have clean water, food and education. These were simple lessons, he said. “We are not going to be able to make it on our own.”

The ‘Toolkit for Linking’ provides practical and accessible advice and guidance to schools, councils and many local other bodies, to link with similar organisations from around the world.

It was compiled by the UK One World Linking Association (http://www.ukowla.org.uk/), an umbrella organisation formed in 1984 to support twinning initiatives.

The event was hosted by the Commonwealth Foundation.

Related Websites:

• UK One World Linking Association (UKOWLA)
• Commonwealth Foundation