Nonty Charity Sabic answers the question:

What is the nicest thing a non-family member has ever done for you?

Hi, Phil. Thank you for asking me this powerful question. I've had time to look deep and really think who is this one person that has done the nicest thing for me outside my family system. What has come up for me very strongly is that I cannot name one person. I really cannot think of only one person because I was brought up with the philosophy of Ubuntu, which is a South African philosophy of “I am because we are,” which means that you belong to your community and the community is responsible for you.

As a global citizen, I really feel that my life's journey has been touched by so many people from all over the world, from different backgrounds, from different ethnicities, from different religions. People who have supported me through my spiritual path, through my mental growth. People who have been there for me through difficult times, through joyful times. And people who've also come into my life looking also for learning and for growth, that I have been able to share my gifts with them, and without them I wouldn't be able to feel like I am living a purposeful life. So everybody for me that comes into my life, whether it's challenging me, and through those challenges I learn new things and I grow as a person, and whether that person is here to support me, or whether this person is there to teach me something, I value every single person that is in my life, that has ever been in my life.
 

This for me is my global network of humans. I belong into an ecosystem. I don't only have this one special experience with one person. I have thousands. I almost want to say millions because from my time of birth until now that I'm speaking to you, for me, every human being is there in my life to touch me, and hopefully I can also contribute in their lives in a very special and beautiful way — even if they might find it challenging, but there's always something to learn and there's something to grow.

I am completely humbled by this question and I'm completely in such deep gratitude by this question you ask because it actually sent me into a space where I felt like I needed to take a pen and paper and write down names of my family members and names of every single person that has been in my life until now, call them by name, which is like ceremonial, to honor them and to thank them for being part of my life. Because there's so many people in the planet, but it's them that I got to have a connection with. In this short life span you get to connect with a certain number of people; you don't get to connect to everybody. For me, these are the people that make up your life story. Therefore, I am in complete gratitude to them for being part of my life story.

Including you Phil, in this moment that we are having right now. For me, this is a beautiful moment for you to invite me into asking and answering this question. So for me, this dynamic we are having right now, it's a very special moment. It's part of my life and it will always be part of my life. Therefore, I thank you also. It's the interconnectedness to everything and to everyone and to nature, to everything that lives. It's Ubuntu. For me, it's Ubuntu. It's my whole life that I'm grateful for and I feel gratitude for, so thank you.
 

Ntokozo (Nonty) Charity Sabic is a shaman, facilitator, speaker, and climate and social change activist. A South African currently living between Europe and South Africa, she is also a workshop leader and a dynamic speaker with the tremendous ability to touch people's hearts and souls. Her goal is to deliver a message of empowerment, service, Indigenous wisdom, sustainable living, and the importance of building community in modern society. 

She has more than 10 years of experience as a life coach and group facilitator, and was initiated in the shamanic ancestral traditions of her tribe (Sangoma). She is also trained in various body therapies, has practiced as a novice Buddhist nun, and is a hospice counselor with a background in training, business, and events management. She is currently involved in various organizations that promote youth and women empowerment and that advocate for healing and reconciliation between Africa and Europe.

In 2010, she started AfroCroat, a nonprofit organization focusing on building bridges of hope between South Africa and Croatia. She has been involved with the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), a network of ecovillages and sustainable communities around the world since 2013, and is currently serving as a board member and in the “policy and advocacy” group.

Nonty is the founder and director of Rise Ubuntu Network (RUN), an international organization founded in 2015 in Senegal under a baobab tree to inspire leaders in reviving and empowering our earth-based wisdom traditions to serve future generations, with a focus on traditions now rapidly vanishing, and in tackling CCC (climate change challenges). Under the umbrella of RUN, she founded Woman In Social and Sustainable Action (WISSA). She is also a member of the International Leadership Association (ILA).

To visit Nonty’s website, click here. To email Nonty, click here.