Dear Colleagues:

Here is an interesting article on dialogue which I have found at NABUUR.com: http://www.nabuur.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8

Let me show you how NABUUR exemplifies UBUNTU: http://faculty.ccp.cc.pa.us/FACULTY/jhoward/southafrica/ubuntu.html

And, here, is my explanation of NABUUR as an UBUNTU Organization, since the two (NABUUR and UBUNTU) are one-and-the-same; mean the same things; function in the same ways; and, can achieve similar enlightened altruistic goals.

I. WHAT IS NABUUR?

Economically under-developed communities around the world can help themselves with the help of NABUUR, a not-for-profit, or NGO, organization, based in the Netherlands, using the talents of volunteers, which carries out its work, mainly, online. Nabuur.com brings isolated communities into contact with people all over the globe who have every skill and resource imaginable among them; and, who want to make a contribution to the development of the socio-economically deprived areas of our world.
Through the use of the internet, NABUUR VILLAGE can facilitate bringing together large numbers of people in a large number of locations, all seeking the same objective, to alleviate suffering and foster sustainability and prosperity among disenfranchised peoples across the globe.
Nabuur participants are globally dispersed individuals; virtual neighbors to Nabuur’s "local" communities in need, brought together via the Internet:
· Nabuur neighbors to local villages know their way around the internet
· Nabuur neighbors can access influential contacts all over the world
· Nabuur neighbors have time, creativity, and expertise they wish to donate
The role of the Nabuur neighbor is largely that of an intermediary. The virtual neighbors of Nabuur bring the resources of the international community within the reach of the local (mostly rural and currently poor) communities they serve:
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· Virtual Neighbors of Nabuur believe in the problem solving capability of local communities; and, local needs drive the process of their work.
· Virtual Neighbors of Nabuur search for, identify, and help select appropriate resources, worldwide, and organize the transfer of these resources to member villages.
· Virtual Neighbors of Nabuur believe that people are central to the Nabuur Village Project, not issues. Neighbors seek a healthy exchange relationship among the people, rewarding to both the Local Villages and villagers and their Virtual Neighbors through NABUUR.
Finally, there are Three Key Strategies that organize the NABUUR ENVIRONMENT:
· Nabuur is "person-to-person" accountable in its communications;
· Nabuur seeks to replace remoteness with vicinity, closing divides;
· Nabuur operates “elevated” by a tone-of-trust, which is reciprocal and genuine.
Each Nabuur Local Village and Nabuur Neighbor takes responsibility for making this working environment a reality. There will develop a respected emotional linkage and bond between both. This, too, is a goal of NABUUR, an UBUNTU Organization.

II. BY FICITICIOUS EXAMPLE, HOW DOES NABUUR WORK?

A rural town in Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa, called Mangangeni, located outside (roughly 40 to 45 km away) the Durban City metropolis, has a traditional Chief. The Chief has complained to the NABUUR Local Representative, whom he has come to trust, that there is too much “street crime” or “theft at gunpoint” particularly, robbing of taxi drivers and their passengers in the local town, and at village markets.
The Chief has asked the NABUUR Local Representative if he can suggest ways to bring down this new and staggering village crime rate. The NABUUR Village Representative first e-mails the problem, as the Chief describes it, to the NABUUR Village Facilitator for this village of Mangangeni. She is a woman who lives in the USA.

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The NABUUR Village Facilitator for Mangangeni does some preliminary Internet research on crime in Kwa Zulu Natal and discovers that there are several “NGO” organizations devoted to ending violence in the Kwa Zulu Natal Province. She posts the problem and some of the sites she has identified on the NABUUR-Mangangeni Village website page, along with her own insights, and suggestions gathered from the research she has done, so that the Nabuur Village Neighbors get a good grasp of what is going on in Mangangeni Village around the crime issue, and, a feel for what they might be able to begin doing to help.
Now, for “digging the gully” between the “reservoir of knowledge” (NGO Organizations dedicated to ending violence, for example) and the people of the Village of Mangangeni: This is the work of NABUUR Village Neighbors, who have logged-on and made a commitment to work individually and together, helping the people of Mangangeni village with their most pressing problems. The Mangangeni “Virtual Neighbors” of the Nabuur project will do further research and bring their own experiences and varied resources to bear in finding which organizations in the Kwa Zulu Natal community, and internationally, can help the people of Mangangeni alleviate their "crime" problems. They will attempt to get these organizations together with the Chief and the People of Mangangeni, and then work further with the people on the problem, until crime abates in the area.
Many strategies will be relayed and developed by the people of Mangangeni through their NABUUR, Mangangeni Village website as the villagers continue to make their own inquiries and come up with additional suggestions, strategies, and solutions among themselves, and with their Nabuur Neighbors. One process that could be utilized in the Mangangeni community is exemplified by the "Dialogues," presented to you, at the beginning of this discussion of NABUUR; the "premiere" example, and perfect definition, of an “online” UBUNTU organization.