 "Photo: The Phoenix/Alicia Ramirez")
 "Photo: The Phoenix/Alicia Ramirez")
This is the true story of 17 activists, who choose to live in a house, study and interact, to find out what happens when people stop being selfish and start communicating. No, it’s not a reality show; it’s the Ubuntu living community on 1234 Albion Ave., and it’s just trying to make the world a better place.
The word Ubuntu means “I am because we are,” senior Marissa Perron explained. The three-floor house, with its 17 inhabitants, is a place where people cook together, hang out and talk about their day.
“We go away from the idea that college is all about me, so we start giving a damn about each other,” senior Paula Bui said.
The group got started when the Loyola ministry decided to create a living community where students could help others.
The first Ubuntu community house was started on Rosemont and Winthrop Avenues three years ago.
“Loyola bought out that building, so the community moved to Albion [Avenue] last year,” senior Graci Willis said.
The community is a group of friends, who just around a year ago took on social justice issues in Rogers Park. For example, Ubuntu takes part in Food Not Bombs, a charitable movement in which each week, Ubuntu and non-Ubuntu members pick up food that is still good after the expiration date from neighborhood stores. They cook it and distribute the food locally to people living on the streets in public places. Their beliefs it is that food should be a right and not a privilege.
The community is also going to be making their own soaps and shampoos in the biodiesel lab on campus in an effort to reduce waste products such as glycerin. Even though things have changed at Ubuntu, the emphasis on community remains the same.
“We have community dinners, meetings where we talk about the nitty gritty and spirituality night where we talk about how things are going,” Perron said.
One of the big themes that made people want to join Ubuntu was the experience of living in a house with 17 different people.
“It is interesting when we come home and our day is not over,” sophomore Yoni Siden said. Often times couch surfers — people who sleep at the house for a few days while traveling — relax in the living room. At one point Ubuntu had six couch surfers stay the same night.
Many of its members got involved with Ubuntu through people they knew who were already in it.
“We had a visioning meeting at the end of the semester last year for whoever was interested in being a part of this community,” Siden said. “Ubuntu is a yearlong commitment, but many people decide to stay longer to experience the ‘I am because we are.’ ”
Students who are interested in learning more about Ubuntu can stop by the house.
4 comments
I came down to Chicago and to see my friend who goes to Loyola. While I was in the Terry Student Center, I picked up a copy of the Loyola Phoenix and read the article that was published describing the Ubuntu community located at 1234 Albion Ave. I actually needed a place to stay friday evening and since the only point of contact was the address, took them for their word and went by the house, and it's actually there. However, whatever the community said in that article was not AT ALL the reality. Not only do that not really take care of the community at large, but have completely changed how they run the house.