The concept of knowledge sharing is something that has been engraved in our culture since time immemorial. But one does not have to look too far back as that is a topic for another day.
It is said knowledge shared is knowledge squared (knowledge shared =knowledge^2). Despite this, a lot of unshared knowledge is taken to the grave.
In the olden days, not far back, the mothers/sengas would transfer knowledge to the girl child, fathers with their sons, grandparents with their grandchildren. How was it done? Through delegation, supervision, apprenticeship, training to mention but a few.
The children would be taken to the garden, farms, kitchen, sites to mention but a few where knowledge would be shared. Some call this tacit knowledge.
Another format of knowledge sharing, which is the focus of today, is the sharing of knowledge over the fireplace or at the fire through stories, poems, songs. Here, the people present would be taught about history and how things were through educative stories to build character, integrity, culture, belief and belonging. These methods tended to engross the participants, hooking and making them eager to learn, listen and return to learn more each time the opportunity presented itself.
How methods were selected.
The types of knowledge sharing depended on the type of knowledge to be shared. Hands-on hands activities required physical participation, training and apprenticeship. For instance, the people being taught to cook, farm or become herbalists went through physical training or apprenticeship. In this method, both the teacher and learner were required to be willing and ready to be involved, as it was participatory.
What Happened?
One wouldn’t be wrong to ask where did this all go wrong or fail to continue.
Contemporary life comes to mind, with people getting engrossed in work, abandoning their culture. This led to disunity, competition and elevated egos. In the process, people started hiding knowledge for fear that someone else would benefit from it at their expense. As such, people look down on each other, throwing statements like “I am educated, I have this and that, what can you tell me.”
And just like that, a lot of knowledge has been lost, hidden or even forgotten by the holders as knowledge not shared can easily get forgotten due to lack of practice or use.
Way Forward.
So the question is, what knowledge are you holding on to and for what reasons? When you shared the knowledge, what did you gain or lose? There is a quote that states that “when a candle lights another candle, it doesn’t lose its light but instead it makes the place brighter.” I therefore pose the another question, whose candle have you lit and whose candle are you thinking of lighting?
The onus is on us to reflect and realise we can not do things alone. We need others to achieve and we can learn from one another. Let us regain the good culture we had so as to build for our future. Only by changing the way things are can we hope for a better and brighter tomorrow. In the process, we shall open up more opportunities and insight can only help us do better and achieve.
I am eager to share and learn, are you?
Wriitten By: Swithin Busingye
