My head and heart are still in Burkina Faso even as we have landed in Senegal. I suspect I will be sorting through the experiences in BK and my reactions to them for some time to come. Our blogmeister for this trip and I shared some reading material that helped shaped some of what I saw and experienced in Burkina. The new book "Eradicating Extreme Poverty: Democracy, Globalization and Human Rights" uses in-depth case studies - one from the Philipines, one from France, one from Peru, and perhaps most poignantly, one from Burkina Faso. These case studies are based on ongoing, in-depth interviews with  individuals and families and others in their circles over an extended time. Paul's story from Burkina is a moving one, as are the others we've completed so far. I'm far from completing this work but a paragraph from the analysis section that I shared with Julie seemed for each of us to capture something we've taken from our time here.

Quoting Professor Amade Badini from the U. of Ougadougou he explains how the Mossi (Paul's heritage) view their environment:

       Poverty is not measured in terms of material belongings or money: the determining factor lies in the feeling of belonging to the group. Mossi culture teaches us that being rich means having people around you  with whom to share. It is almost the antithesis of what is meant by rich in the 'modern' system. What is more, a person in need will not go and seek help from the 'rich' as we define them nowadays, but rather from 'someone who is likely to give him 'something', meaning: someone close, an uncle, an aunt, even if they are not wealthy. In our regions, indicators are essentially social or relational: we are poor when we have no relationships.

What a privilege to be a visitor in this community. As we walked through the market on the outskirts of town, see earlier post by Julie with photos, despite what my Western eyes saw as extreme poverty, I sensed an aliveness, a resilience, and a notion of community despite the harsh conditions. Children born here deserve a chance to develop their capabilities just as children everywhere do. Our economic system that rewards getting what you can for yourself (rationality choice?) as if we are somehow separate from each other  and the biosphere that makes our lives possible, will not provide that opportunity for them. As Professor Badini notes of the Mossi people, we need to strengthen our relationships to each other if we want to remove poverty, not separate ourselves through a winner vs. loser economic system.