Let’s Collaborate’s Lundi Mqina invites Amber Turner as Guest Speaker for Law Students in South Africa
“A human being is a human being because of other human beings”
Ubuntu and the Law in South Africa- Justice Yvonne Mokgoro.
So many of us dream of making this challenging world a more peaceful place; one where there is more equanimity, love and justice. But few of us take the bold and courageous step of actually taking action towards this humanitarian goal. Lundi, ‘a warrior of light’ as I call him, is a final year law student at the University of Western Cape, Africa. He is one of 4 co-founders of Let’s Collaborate alongside Mihle Mlanjeni, Precious Matamela and Steyn Kroon, all fellow law students, guided by the mother of the Integrative Law Movement, author and lawyer J Kim Wright and Contracts Coach, Jaqueline Horani.
Steyn Kroon, Mihle Mlanjeni and Precious Matamela
I asked Lundi why Let’s Collaborate was born? He explained, “Our shared vision is of creating a more modern legal profession where all law students without exception have access to support and assistance through establishing relationships with lawyers, academics and other legal professionals, that is to blaze a clear pathway for them towards successful careers in law”.
Let’s Collaborate has three main goals:
1. To foster a respectful environment where law students can engage with members of the legal profession and be heard, fostering effective connections that support students succeeding in their career goals (e.g. shadowing practising lawyers, applying for positions, networking)
2. To grow a forum for law students, legal academics and other legal professionals to participate together in discussions surrounding topics that are important to society
3. To facilitate open dialogue between law students and legal professionals by hosting networking and speaking events drawing from a global market
I was interested to learn of their chosen values, a foundation stone of any organisation. Lundi explained that the African notion of ‘Ubuntu’ is theirs: they acknowledge that the legal field is a community, not just made up of isolated individuals- “we are ourselves though each other”. In other words, “the individual’s existence and well-being is relative to that of the group’s- there must be a collective effort for group survival”.
The values and behaviours that flow from Ubuntu include: mutual respect and responsibility, allowing space for vulnerability, facilitating connections through humour, acting with humility and encouraging open dialogue. “Practising Ubuntu we can become one, overcoming our differences and building a legal community based on harmony and ‘being-ness’”.
There are no hierarchies in the group. Individuals are assigned different roles but each voice carries as much weight as anyone else’s. By the same token, all members are invited to partake in the decision-making process relating to Let’s Collaborate’s management and development.
I am very grateful and honoured to have been invited to join Let’s Collaborate as a Guest Speaker. I look forward to delivering my first speaking engagement on this global platform about law student and lawyer ‘life skills’ to sustain well-being and to join yet another global community of like-minded law students, academics and other legal professionals whose goal it is to continue growing a movement of justice as peace, healing and love; away from conflict (in the adversarial system), wounding (or re-traumatising through court processes) and the notion of separation (as opposed to unity).
Ubuntu! We are one!
Amber
For more information or to support/ join Let’s Collaborate, please contact: Lundi Mqina at lundi.mqina@gmail.com.