The mission of the Reading West Africa immersion program is the promotion of solidarity and global understanding through an intense and meaningful academic immersion experience in Burkina Faso. By integrating rigorous academic study with direct immersion with the villagers of Burkina Faso, the program challenges students to understand and engage the complexity of global and local social institutions that reproduce inequality and poverty.

The Santa Clara University Fall Semester Study Abroad/Immersion in Burkina Faso is a study abroad program for students interested in combining academic work on the development challenges of West Africa with immersion and community-based learning experiences in public libraries in small towns and villages in rural areas. Students spend the first six weeks of the program in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, the second six weeks in a rural village in southwestern Burkina Faso, a week of travel in the region, and a final two weeks back in Ouagadougou.

All in-country activities, transportation, meals, lodging and other logistics of the study abroad/immersion are organized by Friends of African Village Libraries (FAVL), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that operates five village libraries in Burkina Faso and employs a resident staff in Ouagadougou.

The books in this collection were created by students in the Burkina Faso Study Abroad Progam.