One of the best things I took away from the 2006 World Cup was meeting so many chirpy locals as the Germans played their role of hosts to perfection.
It fair to expect a similar noisy and colourful carnival atmosphere awaits in South Africa with smiling locals ready to greet football fans from all over the globe.
The picture postcard image of the reborn South Africa is beaming South Africans who are chomping at the bit to show off The Rainbow Nation to the rest of the world. Central to this desire to display their hospitality is the ancient local teaching of Ubuntu.
The word Ubuntu has its origins in the Bantu dialects of Southern Africa and the philosophy is upheld from Polokwane to Port Elizabeth.
Ubuntu defines what it truly means to be human by acknowledging that only in giving help and support to others can we confirm our own humanity.
The teaching of Ubuntu is based on the pillars of respect, decency and tolerance and strives towards making the world a happy and peaceful place.
Pronounced uu-Boon-too the philosophy states that all humans are spiritually connected and we nurture our ourselves by the good deeds we bestow on others.
The Zulus have the saying Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu which translates as an individual is the person that other people see rather than how the individual desires themselves to be seen. Similar to the adage "No Man Is An Island" the Zulus believe that without performing good deeds for those around us our life is meaningless.
Ubuntu is a belief that Nelson Mandela grew up with and saw in action around him on a daily basis.
"A traveller through a country would stop at a village and he didn't have to ask for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food, entertain him." The former President said. "Ubuntu does not mean that people should not address themselves. The question therefore is, are you going to do [an action] in order to enable the community around you to be able to improve?"
Ubuntu is also very dear to Archbishop Desmond Tutu and he cannot fail but keep the philosophy in mind when making his choices.
"It is the essence of being human. It speaks of the fact that my humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in yours." The Nobel Prize winner said. "A person with Ubuntu is welcoming, hospitable, warm and generous, willing to share. Such people are open and available to others, willing to be vulnerable, affirming of others, do not feel threatened that others are able and good."
The Archbishop speaks of how a person with Ubuntu cannot repress other but rather takes pleasure in the achievements of those around them.
"They know that they are diminished when others are humiliated, diminished when others are oppressed, diminished when others are treated as if they were less than who they are." Tutu said. "The quality of Ubuntu gives people resilience, enabling them to survive and emerge still human despite all efforts to dehumanize them."
With its principles of everyone pulling in the same direction to achieve a common goal it is no surprise that Ubuntu became central to discussions on rebuilding the country after the Apartheid was smashed.
When the South African National Assembly passed a new White Paper For Social Welfare government minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi outlined the plans for improvement.
"For the first time in our country's history delivery in the welfare field will be driven by key principles such as democracy, partnership, ubuntu, equity, and inter-sectoral collaboration, among others." Fraser-Moleketi stated in February 1997.
Within in this extract from the White Paper Ubuntu's benefits are further highlighted.
"The principle of caring for each other's well-being will be promoted, and a spirit of mutual support fostered. Each individual's humanity is ideally expressed through his or her relationship with others and theirs in turn through a recognition of the individual's humanity. Ubuntu means that people are people through other people. It also acknowledges both the rights and the responsibilities of every citizen in promoting individual and societal well-being."
Belief in Ubuntu allowed blacks and whites to abandon the us and them codes which had bound them for so long and gave the chance for harmony to blossom.
Ubuntu caught the imagination of Bill Clinton and he used the term when addressing the Labour Party in 2006.
"Society is important because of Ubuntu," The former leader of the Free World said. "If we were the most beautiful, the most intelligent, the most wealthy, the most powerful person and then found all of a sudden that we were alone on the planet, it wouldn't amount to a hill of beans."
A refreshing change from Margaret Thatcher's views on a sharing community back in 1987.
"There is no such thing as society," The Iron Lady said. "There are individual men and women."
One place to witness Ubuntu in action is in the dressing room of South African football teams. What better way to get a result than pulling together as a unit in search of the right outcome for the team.
The presence of Ubuntu is sport has stretched far away from Southern Africa however and is now a fixture at TD Garden, home of the Boston Celtics. Head coach Doc Rivers bestowed the team with beaded bracelets inscribed with the word Ubuntu at the start of the 2008 championship season and the squad chant the word at games when breaking a huddle.
One thing that concerns me a little is how much good will we will see imparted onto the team that eventually dumps the hosts out of the World Cup. I wouldn't rule out a quick blast of a vuvuzela in the face before our hosts forget and move on to the next party.
I wouldn't suggest anybody goes to South Africa for the World Cup expecting handouts but maybe it would be nice if we could bring a little Ubuntu of our own along and throw it into the mix.