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Oct 16, 2009
"Gifts are the link with your neighbors, your parents, your relatives. If you can't keep that link, you are not a human being." --Djingarey Maiga
Mali's Gift Economy
Sometimes, we get the most from giving without receiving. In Mali, villagers have embraced this idea for centuries in their vibrant gift economy, called 'dama'. It encourages Malians to maintain social connections with family, friends, and complete strangers, by providing goods and services with no expectation of a return gift. Instead, the villagers understand that a gift will be "paid forward," and that the individual sacrifice will make the community as a whole stronger and better connected. In a nation where the government provides minimal services, Mali's dama protects the poor and the sick, helping those ignored by a traditional economy. Read more about the success of this gift economy.
BE THE CHANGE
Give a gift to a stranger without expecting anything in return.
