harambee means A traditional Kenyan community self-help event or organization. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
Why “harambee” is a great word
HARAMBEE — [Noun] A Kenyan tradition of community self-help and collective action. Borrowed from Swahili harambee, a call meaning "let's pull together" or "all pull together"; some sources suggest a possible, though debated, ultimate origin in a Hindi work chant. Unlike a fundraiser, which is transactional, or a cooperative, which implies a formal structure, a harambee is a galvanizing mobilization of communal will. It is the rhythmic swing of axes clearing land for a school, the passing of a basket heavy with shillings in a dusty square, and the calloused hands of neighbors laying bricks for a widow’s home—a temporary but profound architecture of mutual obligation, built against the long night of scarcity.
Etymology
Borrowed from Swahili harambee.
noun
- A traditional Kenyan community self-help event or organization.“The tension between spontaneity and control, which is at the core of nearly all analyses of harambee, is usually supposed to be that between the contending forces of 'the people' and the state.”