About this book

This guide was authored together in November 2011, over a six day period in Nyanga Zimbabwe, by a team of 11 people drawn from 6 countries.

Kubatana brought us together, mined the contents of our heads, the experiences of literally thousands of others who are part of the Freedom Fone story and the support of donors and well wishers who have believed in the Freedom Fone ethos.

For many of us who have been used to the processes of creation taking months and sometimes years the tool and process we used called Booksprint was a revelation. Individual thought and writing, two person teams, pow wows of the whole team fueled by respectful argument, disagreement, eventual compromise and recommitment to the task of finishing the guide to deadline all led to a roller coaster ride that was exhilarating and satisfying.

Seven hundred hours of our collective effort has produced around thirty thousand words of description and many illustrations that we hope is a coherent whole and a useful tool to help you use this fantastic software called Freedom Fone.

The story is never complete and your contribution can help us to improve this manual and 'keep it live'. By using Freedom Fone, testing this guide out and letting us know how relevant it is - you too will become an author of something that really does help many others!

You will join that community of Free and Open Software developers and users that are changing paradigms of ownership and control of information and tools. We welcome you and your contribution and wish you well in your journey with Freedom Fone!

The spirit of Ruparara be with you!