The Columbus Africentric School
Mission Statement
and
Guiding Principles
Our Mission at the Columbus Africentric School is to develop an
African-centered holistic education system for students, parents, staff, and
community addressing the needs of the total self with the use of Ma'at and the
Nguzo Saba as our guide
Ma'at, the dynamic principles of Right, Truth, and Justice was the
source of harmony with self, universe, and the Creator. Eqyptian men and women
knew that they must practice the Declarations in everyday life if at death they
hoped to be divinely judged and successfully enter the Afterlife. The seven
principles of Ma'at include:
- Truth: Congruous in thought, words, and deeds.
- Justice: Always showing balance in everything you do.
- Righteousness: Acting in accord with Divine Law.
- Reciprocity: What you give, you shall receive.
- Balance: The scales must be equal on all sides.
- Harmony: Making sure you are in accordance with nature.
- Order: To put persons or things into their proper places in
relation to each other.
The Nguzo Saba
The way people live is really
determined by the value system to which they are exposed. Maulana Karenga, a
Black Nationalist and Founder of the U.S. Organization, is a strong advocate of
this belief and, in his efforts to redirect African people to adopt positive
goals, he has developed a Black value system called the Nguzo Saba. The Nguzo
Saba is based on customs and traditions of African societies and is, as Karenga
states, "a weapon, a shield, and a pillow of peace." The Nguzo Saba consists of
seven principles, which embrace both spiritual and scientific concepts.
The seven principles of the Nguzo Saba are:
- UMOJA (Unity): To strive for
and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
- KUJICHAGULIA
(Self-Determination): To define ourselves, name ourselves, and speak for
ourselves instead of being defined and spoken for by others.
- UJIMA (Collective Work and
Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and to make our
brothers' and sisters' problems our problems and to solve them
together.
- UJAMA (Cooperative
Economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and to profit from them
together.
- NIA (Purpose): To make as our
collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to
restore our people to their traditional greatness.
- KUUMBA (Creativity): To do
always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community
more beautiful and beneficial than when we inherited it.
- IMANI (Faith): To believe
with all our heart in our parents, our teachers, our people and the
righteousness and victory of our struggle.