ABSTRACT
It matters greatly that the people response to and understanding of suffering is shaped by the degree of their proximity to it. The voices of village people in Southern Zambia were heard by a team of people of different nationalities who worked with them, and who learned of the immense strength of human relationship that is the foundation for expansion of community capacity. Another learning encountered is that long-term change in attitudes and behaviors, in all cultures in which the people international facilitation team has worked in the last decade, depends on a capacity for shared safe intimacy within a group that can become a shared confidentiality, in contrast to shared secrets or knowledge. Vitality keeps returning to the facilitation team members and the author as long as the people immerse themselves in the ordinary life struggle and joys of local neighborhoods. In a recent Pacific consultation of facilitators, the Tonga team members shared an experience of facilitating reconciliation.
