How can we change this?

In the span of just a few days I’ve gone from happy to anticipation to sad, but most of all I was brought back to reality on the current situation of Burkina Faso and its position on the Human Development Index, #176 out of 178 countries. It is so easy to loose sight of the struggles that people face when you are so involved in life here. The friends I have here are great people and really not much different than the friends I have at home. We talk about similar things and hang out in similar manners, that it is easy to forget that they are not living as cushy an existence as I do, that they don’t have nearly as many opportunities or chances as I do, nor are they as secure in the avoidance of poverty as I am and that there is no real reason other than circumstance and chance.

We have two friends whose wives gave birth on December 24^th. We spent a weekend with one of the babies not so long ago, but we didn’t get a chance to meet the other baby. As we wait with anticipation for another friend’s baby due any day now, we are nervous and sad about the next few years. We are reminded that approximately 15 %, almost 1 in 5 children here don’t make it to 5 years old. How can we change this?

For more information please see:

Human Development Index

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_development_index

Burkina Faso

http://www.nationmaster.com/country/uv-burkina-faso/eco-economy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkina_Faso