Baba Jairos Jiri’s ubuntu models of charity, disability and rehabilitation

Abstract

Referred to as Baba, meaning respected father, Jairos Jiri deserved this honour and many global awards for starting charity, disability and rehabilitation work in Zimbabwe. But if one reads the available written works on Baba Jiri today, you would think he grew up a Christian in a westernised urban environment, and that he was western educated. He was not any of these. This article has three major objectives (1) to give a short but elaborate history of Baba Jiri (2) to emphasize the three models that characterize baba Jiri’s work and (3) to reframe these models using ubuntu theory. A fourth but minor objective is to point out how these models could be used by academics, researchers, learners, practitioners and activists.

Keywords: Baba Jairos Jiri, Rozvi, Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, disability, rehabilitation, charity