While I have traveled outside of the United States, it was always for leisure or vacation- I have never fully experienced a different culture firsthand.  When challenged to learn about an unfamiliar country, culture, or religion I chose to focus on Africa.  When I think of Africa, I immediately think of how cool it would be to ride an elephant.  I briefly lose sight of the idea that Africa is a totally different continent that has an entirely different culture and way of living. 
Upon my research of dignity and the African culture, I stumbling upon an article written by Father David Garcia in August of 2010 (so fairly recent) titled, “Human Dignity and Toenail Polish in West Africa.”  The article was about a man who belonged to Catholic Relief Services (CRS).  CRS, as described in the article, is ”a delegation of Hispanic Church leaders from all over the US who were visiting the West African countries  of Ghana and Burkina Faso to promote global solidarity among Hispanic Catholics.”  CRS promotes human dignity and works to help others develop independence through different programs such micro finance, health care, education, agriculture, water, and food. 
The article itself focused on Father Garcia’s experience in Burkina Faso.  In Burkina Faso, Father Garcia met a woman named Nathalie Oudjebou.  Nathalie, a mother of three, belonged to a group called “Dikidini”.  The members of Dikidini were experimenting with a savings and investment project that would help the members access small amounts of credit.  With access to small amounts of credit, the people belonging to Dikidini were able to "engage in revenue generating enterprises to supplement their meager subsistence farming."  Since many of the people of West Africa are supported by farming, whenever there is no rain to produce their crop, the Dikidini have access to credit to help them get by.  There are certain requirements and rules that the group follows in order to generate their credit and reap the benefits.  For example, each member has to save a certain amount of money and contribute some to the overall group.  The group then lends money to the members with a small interest rate.  Once every eight months the members receive their original investment, as well as their share of the profits. 
Father Garcia was lucky enough to experience that one day the Dikidini payout every eight months.  He got see the smiles and sense of accomplishment that the group felt.  After witnessing their accomplishments, Father Garcia went back to Nathalie’s home- a small mud hut about fifteen feet in diameter.  Father Garcia began to talk with Nathalie about the Dikidini and what the credit has done for her.  Nathalie said that the credit allowed her to make peanut butter and millet beer that she is able to sell at the market.  Before, she was always worried about if she would be able to provide for her family, and now, not only was she able to feed her children, but she was also able to pay school fees and send her children to school.  Nathalie also was able to purchase toenail polish.  For the first time in her life, she was able to do something nice for herself.  “Dignity can come through many ways, even toenail polish.”
This article was pretty interesting to me because it reminded me of a lot of things we have been talk about in my colloquium class.  One of the aspects of dignity we chose to discuss was how dignity is a universal concept.  I think this article exemplified that.  This aticle made me think about all of how fortunate I am to have access to all of the things I do- for example, a credit card and nail polish.  The article said that many of the people who live in Burkina Faso live off of $1a day- something I cannot even comprehend.  I think ok, how much can I get for a dollar?  Oh, well McDonalds has a $1 menu, but then I remember that $1 is not for a meal, it is for the entire day.
 Like I said previously, I have never experienced a different culture first hand, and I realize that the people of West Africa live very different than me.  Despite the fact that we live differently and in different cultures, Nathalie worked hard to provide for her family and do something nice for herself.  She did what she could to  better her life and the lives of her children.  I think this is very similar to the way people in America live.  While it might come easier for some than others, most of the time parents work hard to provide for their children and do nice things for themselves.  For Nathalie, working hard to be able to purchase nail polish for herself installed a sense of dignity in her; similar to the way that working hard to get a job that could provide for one's family in America would install a sense of dignity in that individual.  We are often focused on what is different, so its fascinating to see something that is similar among different cultures. Not only do I think that this article shows that dignity can be universal, but it also reminded me a lot of the major themes of Catholic Social Teaching.  While that may have been due to the fact that the article was published in Today's Catholic, the way the Dikidini worked to better themselves as a group incorporated a lot of the Catholic Social Teaching themes.  For example, one major themes of Catholic Social Teaching is "Common Good and Community."  The Dikidini worked together as a community to create the credit system that benefited every member of the group.  Another theme in the article is "Participation."  According to the Catholic Social Teaching, people should have the right to participate in the economic, political, and cultural life of a society.  In Burkina Faso, the members of the Dikidini created an economic system of credit to benefit themselves.  While these are not the only themes present in the article, these are a few that I was reminded of.  I think when it comes down to it, no matter who you are or how you want to live your life, everyone can appreciate what they have, but also strive to benefit themselves and/or others even more.  I think that is universal.