Interview by Michael Curley

It is 11:00 am as I enter the World Trade Center building in Lausanne, Switzerland and climb the first floor to the office of Global Harmony. I knock on the door and hear the voice of Mr. Dajani himself bid me "Yes, come in".

Mr Dajani rises to meet me and shakes my hand warmly. "How are you today?. It is good to see you Mike". In his office there is just his desk with four chairs for visitors. There are several displays which show large colour photographs of the GHF projects around the world. There are no staff. As I sit down and collect my thoughts, Mr Dajani puts the finishing touches to his Brazil Mission Report 2002 It is being distributed in English, French and German, to GHF donors , potential donors, board members and friends.

MC: So here we are in the offices of the Global Harmony Foundation based in Lausanne in Switzerland. I am talking to Naseeb Dajani who is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Technical Advisor. I must say, that for a foundation with such a grand name "Global Harmony", I arrive in your offices here, and I observe that they are in fact quite modest. I am sure that there is a very good reason for this. Would you like to explain?

ND: Yes, the situation with Global Harmony having such an ambitious name does not reflect the fact that we are a small foundation, with quite cost effective work, and we want to stay small since we would like to keep our administration costs low and focus our resources and energies. We work with volunteers who work outside and so they don't need to sit in the office.

MC: One difference that I am aware of with Global Harmony, is that you succeed where others fail. In other organisations a lot of the donations which are given with a good heart, in fact go on administrative expenses and salaries, with the result that not enough of the money actually reaches those in need. I know that you do things differently.

ND: That is true. Having worked with big organisations, and having seen how money is squandered or spent on administration, when we founded this foundation I decided that most of the donations should go to the people at the grass roots level, to the people with whom we are working, and helping. We are a small foundation, we are transparent, cost-effective, nonpolitical, non-denominational, and non-beureaucratic. Most of the donors understand the advantages of helping a foundation like ours because they see that the money that they donate goes mostly to the projects and we achieve results.  

MC: How do you raise your funds, and then what happens to the funds that you raise?

ND: Yes, the sources of our funds are quite interesting because our donors whether they are anonymous donors, whether they are companies, banks, institutions, they are educated before they start donating. When we go to raise funds and talk to a potential donor, we explain what we do, how we do things, how we help people to help themselves, what are our principles and values, what kind of creative projects we carry out. The donors then understand the whole process, and so are encouraged to donate. It is not an impersonal thing.

We also raise funds through organising auctions and special events. Integrated with these events will be a focused informative, educational program where those who are participating learn more about the foundation and how we work, and the specific projects that we raise funds for.

It is always a struggle because it is not so easy to get donations for a foundation which works on the level of education, orienting, and training people. It is not a foundation that raises money for cancer or for AIDS for example which touches the people directly. It is really a foundation that facilitates and helps people to help themselves and empower their innate abilities. It's a long process but it's a very successful process. Donors who become loyal to our foundation continue to donate to us, and we encourage them to visit the projects that they have helped to support, which some of them do.

MC: If anybody would like more specific information about the GHF projects, the details are available on your web site. Naseeb, what are the principles of the Global Harmony Foundation? 

ND: The values of the foundation? Well to put it briefly, above all races, ranks and religions comes humanity. We work with all kinds of people without classifying them and without establishing them according to any category. They are only human beings who need help. They are motivated and we try to help them to help themselves and to discover their own abilities.

The mission of the Foundation is to make a positive difference in the lives of people with whom we are working. To achieve, with their participation, a better life and also a better environment for them to live in. Mainly we work with children, women, and communities, schools depending upon their need and motivation. In a sense we are a service facilitating foundation. As Rabindrarath Togore, an Indian educator and philosopher, once said:

I slept and dreamt that life was pleasure

I woke up and found that life was service

I served and discovered that service was pleasure.

And this is our pleasure, to serve.

MC: Can you tell us something about yourself Naseeb? I would like to know what motivated you to start the foundation. Did these motivations have something to do with your own background?

ND: In a way you are right because I come from a family where my mother worked for most of her life with the Red Cross and Red Crescent humanitarian organisations, and my father was a Professor, a teacher and a journalist. So I grew up in a home where caring and sharing was the rule. And so with that philosophy at home I studied subjects dealing with that; Sociology, Anthropology, cultures.

Once I had completed my education I joined the UN to work in the field. So I implemented the core of my upbringing and the philosophy of helping people to help themselves, and this reflects the essence of my background. You know what you integrate from the values of your family and so on, remains with you. It is even more powerful than the religious teachings that you get in school. So with that background of course, and then working for so many years with big UN organisations, the day came when I thought, well, you need to work with a foundation that is down to earth, that works at the grass roots level, that is non-beureaucratic, nonpolitical, non-denominational, and needless to say, non-profi making. And so when I co-founded the foundation with several profesional friends and with Sir Peter Ustinov, it was with this idea in mind. To really have a foundation that makes a difference and to reach the unreachable in different parts of the world. We have local coordinators whom I have known for many years. Some of whom I have trained, and these local coordinators (I call them Phd's but they don't have a Ph.D. you know. The "P" stands for Professional, "H" for honesty, "D" for dedication and "S" for sensitivity to the culture and the needs of the people).

So we have local coordinators for all of the projects in the 5 countries where we work. The five countries are: Brazil, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and India. And we are helping at present 18 projects. Each project is different. We don't have a program established here in Switzerland to impose upon the people there. Our program emanates from the needs of the local people and the interesting thing is that some programs in a project change and develop according to these evolving needs. I can give several examples of how projects start at one level and then continue at another level. These projects are not static. They are dynamic projects where, when the time comes, as people are benefiting and participating, they reach a stage where they don't need us anymore and then we feel that we have succeeded.         

The thing is, in a way, success and achievement is a bondage. It drives us to higher achievement. This is what we always keep aiming at. We achieve something and then we move further up the scale to achieve more, all this with the participation of the beneficiaries. 

MC: I am sure that you have a vision of a world in the future, a world that you would like to see manifest. Would you like to say something of this world?  

ND: Yes, of course. Everyone has a vision, but before starting on what my vision is, I would like to introduce a formula which I created regarding how to formulate a vision. This is the "4Fs - CD". 

 . . the four "F"s

the first "F" - it should be futuristic.

the second "F" - it should be focused.

the third "F" - it should be feasible

the fourth "F" - it should be flexible

 . . and the CD,

the "C" stands for communicable

the "D" stands for desirable

Now with my vision for a world, I would say that what we really need is Justice, Integrity, Compassion and maybe if I want to sum up the ideas that come to mind now, I would call them the "7C"s. Let's see how they come:

the first "C" is for curiosity

the second "C" is for compassion

the third "C" is for creativity

the fourth "C" is for competence

the fifth "C" is for collaboration

the sixth "C" is for commitment

the seventh "C" is for courage

So, with something like that, we really can lead to a better world, a world which has harmony, beauty and humour, and a better life for everyone. When we talk about development, my idea of development is that it is a process where the human being is the means and the end to the process, leading to another formula of "4Wells - CHEERS" :

 . . the four "Wells"

the first "W" is well-behaving

the second "W" is well-being

the third "W" is well-becoming

the fourth "W" is well-sustaining

 . . and the CHEERS

the "C" is for continuos process

the "H" is holistic, it touches on very aspect of life. It touches on health, education, hygiene, economics, every culture, every aspect. 

the first "E" is equity. This is not the economic equity. Equity means here justice for everybody. Development is not only for the rich, for the industrialists, This is also for the poor. Not only for men, it's also for women and children. Equity.

the second "E" is environmental. This is our capital, the environment.

the "R" is for relevancy. It should be relevant to the needs of the people and their potential.

and the "S" which is very important, stands for sensitivity. Sensitivity to the culture of the people. 

So we have a formula for development which is WWWWCHEERS, and in the work we are doing we help people to understand and to reach as much as possible, this aim and this vision which we hope to achieve.

MC: What would you say to people who are perhaps less experienced than yourself in the art of helping others, and who would like to live by the principles that you have outlined, but who have difficulty putting these things into practice in their daily lives. 

ND: Well the thing is, you know, life is constantly changing. If it was not, then people by the age of twenty-five would have learned everything that is needed. But since it is constantly changing, we need really a lifelong learning. And the characteristics for people to be able to go for this lifelong learning, I call it the "PROS ".   

The "P" stands for propensity to listen to others

The "R" stands for risk taking. If we allow ourselves to fail we are at the same time allowing ourselves to excel.

The "O" stands for an open mind. We need to look at life with an open view. 

and the "S", a very important one, it stands for self reflection. Honest assessment of our failures and successes, and in a way, converting these failures especially, to challenges to improve ones service and goals.

So to have this feeling for really achieving a lifelong learning we need to have these PROS. And I would say that anyone in this world can do that, if we would only think about it, and see what a future we need to create. Looking into the process of learning and improving, we can reach a goal which is just, magnanimous and compassionate. This is what we aim to reach. In essence we come to a single characteristic and concept which is needed by everyone, and that is integrity.

MC: It is evident Naseeb, that you are talking from your heart. This is not something that you have learned from a book.  

ND: That is true. You can learn from everywhere. You can learn from a simple person who never went to school formally, but who really learnt from life. And you can learn from your neighbour, from nature, if there is a presence of mind, if you are open and you want to learn. If you are, as I say, a PROS. If you listen, you appreciate, you observe, you realise that learning is not only with the mind. but there are other aspects where your subconscious absorbs it without you being aware of it, and then it comes out at a time when you need it.

But the sources for learning are many and varied. It is the presence of mind that is important. If your mind is ready, the teacher appears. I think that in life we continue to learn and no-one could say that he has learnt it all.

In fact the tools which we use in Global Harmony, I call them the "4Hs"

The first "H" is humanity, loving humanity.

The second "H" is humility, which comes from the Latin "humus", from the earth.

The third "H" is honesty.

The fourth "H" is humour. With humour you don't take yourself too seriously and it is a balancing factor.

The work that we are doing is beautiful work because it is meaningful, it is service, it is alleviating difficult situations, it's helping people. It is really bonding with your fellow man in a way where there is mutual respect and mutual help. Many people talk about tolerance. It is not that. It is more than that. Tolerance has its superiority, inferiority aspect. It is really mutual respect where we look at the human being. Every human being as a unique person and we help and respect one another. And with that attitude, that feeling, people trust you, and you trust them. This is mutual trust.

It is only through mutual trust and respect that people open-up, accept you and allow you to help them. In community development work, people sense if you are not honest. If there is no respect they feel it. Once they feel that there is a mutual respect then there evolves a feeling of trust and this is where the work opens up and you start working on real, solid ground. In fact, this is one of the essential ingredients, one of the basic pillars in the art of helping.

 . . . more from Naseeb soon.

* * * * * * * * *

Back to top

[Home]

[Affirmations]

[Articles]

[Divine Words]

[Dictionary]

[Jokes]

[Places]

[People]

[Poems]

Copyright © 2002 - 2007 Sannyasin. All rights reserved.

Dr. Naseeb Dajani of the Global Harmony Foundation, Lausanne, Switzerland

" The values of the Global Harmony Foundation are summed up in the following formula:

Values

= H 

 3Rs

Above all Races, Ranks, and Religions comes Humanity "