Roy Byrd and his wife, Karin Krueger, have been members of ESNW since 1988. In the summer of 2007, they realized a lifelong dream by going to South Africa, as members of the Yale Alumni Chorus's "Power of Song" tour. While singing and traveling around Johannesburg, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town, Roy became interested in Ubuntu, the African ethical philosophy that resembles his understanding of humanism. He was particularly impressed with the success of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was partly inspired by Ubuntu. Since retiring from IBM Research in 2008, Roy has had the time to do more reading about this philosophy and welcomes to opportunity to explain to ESNW why he was impressed.