COMMUNAL RESPONSE IN IFITE-OGWARI: AN EXAMPLE OF PHILOSOPHY OF ASSISTANCE IN AFRICA

Abstract

One of the undeniable fates of human beings is that he must live in society. This associational nature of man makes it imperative that there must be interactions with other human beings. Many outcomes must result in the course of this intercourse. One of them is that society’s device means through which certain obligations are expected of its members for smooth cohabitation. in Ifite-Ogwari, rural community in Anambra State of Nigeria, the culture of communal response during difficult and/or trying periods has become a way of life so much so that people may even discomfort themselves to attend to a member or a group of people who are in need of assistance to the point that difficult and hard sacrifices may be made. This paper looked at some of these sacrifices the people make in the bid to come to the rescue of those needing them. By applying hermeneutics, the work discovered that it is the spirit of brotherliness (nwenem) that propels the supportive inclination of the people. This work recommends that this spirit, expressed in diverse forms and nomenclatures across all of Africa, should be revived in this era of selfishness in the guise of tribalism, segregation, discrimination, racism and all other tendencies that highlight the differences in human beings instead of our oneness.