Ubuntu’s ‘I Am Because We Are’ idea inspires ‘Uniting the Inland Northwest’ event
News Story by Rose Owens | FāVS News
Itohan Idumwonyi struggled to balance remote teaching with her kids’ education during the early pandemic. While she taught online classes, one son needed daily transportation across town for in-person schooling. Overwhelmed by these competing demands, Idumwonyi found unexpected relief when her son’s math teacher volunteered to drive her son to and from school despite living across town himself.
In the midst of the world falling apart, there was still humanity shining through, Idumwonyi recalled.
Idumwonyi, a scholar and religion professor at Gonzaga University, serves as a Humanities Washington speaker. She will deliver the keynote address at the upcoming FāVS event, “Uniting the Inland Northwest.” Her work focuses on community building and bridging social divides, themes relevant to Spokane’s cultural landscape. The event organizers selected Idumwonyi for her academic expertise in community development and her personal experiences bringing diverse groups together.
“In the midst of all the ups and downs, what has kept me is community,” she said.
Idumwonyi grew up in Nigeria in a family of seven. She proudly calls herself the hinge of her family, the one who cements relationships. Growing up, her parents loved education and had her and her siblings sit in the living room and read every day after school.
“That was my formative times, my formative age, and before I knew it, it turns out I would be asked to teach those behind me. I became the house teacher,” she said.
Idumwonyi credits her success to supportive relationships. Family members recognized her potential, telling her, “You would be very good at this.” These encouragements, coupled with support from others, guided her career path.
In high school and college, her classmates would form groups to study and would often ask her to lead or walk them through what was taught in class that day. She found that she didn’t really feel like she understood a topic or idea until she had taught it to others. This became her story.
She earned degrees at University of Ibadan in Nigeria and then pushed to advance herself even further. She left Nigeria to attend Harvard University where she earned a Master of Theological Studies degree. She then went to Rice University where she earned another master’s degree and a doctorate in religion.
She wanted to be a better teacher and person, she said.
As she finished up her dissertation at Rice in 2018, a position at Gonzaga opened up.
She was accepted as a Humanities Washington speaker in 2023. Humanities Washington vets speakers for their expertise, but also their ability to lead productive conversations and inspire curiosity among Washingtonians.
“Itohan is an incredible scholar and professor at Gonzaga University. We are so fortunate that Itohan is sharing her interdisciplinary expertise in African culture, religion and diaspora studies with our state. Her Speakers Bureau presentation, ‘Ubuntu: How an Ancient African Concept Can Help Human Flourishing,’ is both illuminating and practical, offering a glimpse at how the humanities can help us both navigate the big questions but also live a more fulfilling life and connect with one another,” said Stone Addington, director of programs and deputy executive director for Humanities Washington.
Ubuntu philosophy guides Idumwonyi’s approach to healing community divisions. The concept means “I am because we are,” acknowledging the interconnection of all people. She describes it as recognizing the support received from others throughout life and the responsibility to support those who follow. This perspective promotes both seeking and offering help, reinforcing mutual dependence rather than self-reliance.
“We need each other to survive. Reaching out your hand to support the person who is drowning may not even cost you anything if we can look away from the small thing that divides us, and look at those big pictures that actually unites us, we will live in a better world,” Idumwonyi said.
She believes people often focus on trying to be better than others thinking, “How can I hold their hand and walk this path with them and succeed together.”
Idumwonyi says life should not be a competition, it should be complimentary.
“We are all broken people. But how do we make the broken people not to be crushed people? That’s what I see Uniting the Inland Northwest doing, bringing people who are broken to the same space and working together,” she said.
The “Uniting the Inland Northwest” event will be held April 27 at the Montvale Event Center, 1019 W. 1st Ave., in downtown Spokane. Idumwonyi’s keynote will be at 4 p.m.
Register for this free event here!
Along with the keynote there will be six different breakouts sessions. The topics include understanding homelessness in the community, how food and faith unite communities, the next generation’s vision for unity, understanding LGBTQ+ faith experiences, interfaith dialogue in polarized times and building bridges with refugees and immigrant neighbors.
Paige Thurman, owner and events coordinator for Driftwood Event Planning is organizing “Uniting the Inland Northwest” for FāVS News.
“My bread and butter is weddings and so this is really a breath of fresh air to me, to plan something that’s different and for the community,” Thurman said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing all different personalities and different cultures come together as one and talk about different aspects.”
Idumwonyi says isolation damages communities faster than physical diseases. According to her, keeping personal struggles private accelerates emotional decline. She emphasizes that sharing one’s story with someone who offers attentive listening provides significant relief, even when the listener offers no solutions.
“When the world is falling apart, who or what is your anchor? What are you turning to that keeps you going in the midst of the gloominess of the world? Who do you turn to and who can turn to you?” she said. “If you don’t have one person that you say, ‘I have this one person to turn to, or can also depend on me,’ you are not flourishing as a human. You need to think again.”
More information about “Uniting the Inland Northwest” can be found on the event’s website.
