I learned my facilitator’s rules of the road on location at the Temple. Lessons that I carry with me to this day and implement in every thing I do. My position as the Minister of Information taught me how to organize data and express a single, more powerful cohesive thought. I came to understand the role that each block plays in the setting the foundation of the building. During Kwanzaa 2002, I was appointed to organize speakers and facilitate the flow of the event. Though small in scope, this event gave me great insight into how best to instill the spirit of cooperative work in the members who are setting the stage for the event.
My time in Temple for the period of 3 years showed me that if any single individual holds an inequitable sway over the navigation of any idea, it is doomed to collapse like any corporate entity without a succession plan in place. Ujima should find us always involving every necessary and able hand in the process of building our community. It is not sufficient in the Commons that we should allow individuals to survive in the Commons on the work of the other members of the body. Let every shoulder that ain’t broke put its weight upon the plow! – tekhen djehuti
COLLECTIVE WORK AND RESPONSIBILITY (UJIMA) – Knowledge: Labor, tasks, duties, functions, and mental accountability as stages in the completion of a greater mission which is dispensed amongst all individuals in a group. Wisdom: To build and maintain our community together while making our Brother’s and Sister’s problems our own in order that we might solve them together. Understanding: No man is an island unto himself. The Universal Law of Karma is eternal and infinite. It states that, "So long as you take care of your Family in their time of need, so shall the collective take up your plight in your time of need." Those issues that currently affect your Brothers and Sisters today will with all surety affect you tomorrow. Therefore, it must be understood that we all have a responsibility to each other and a definite part to play in the struggle to reclaim the glory of our People.