Well, the big news around here recently has been the World Cup where everyone roots vehemently for the five African teams. I watched the U.S./Ghana match on my porch and was mildly afraid of bodily harm from my two Nigerien friends who were watching it with me, especially since the US won in the final few minutes of the game. Soccer hasn’t found a huge market in the States, but the World Cup is far- and-away the largest global sports event. I’ll have to admit that before I lived in Niger the World Cup was barely a blip on my screen. Even now, I can’t sit down to watch a normal soccer match because I find it boring. Incidentally, my non-American friends insist that American football is boring because it is slow-paced, and spectators are forced to watch a 3-hour game in order to follow 60 minutes of actual action. I hadn’t really seen that angle before, but I suppose it stands to reason. After all, thousands of people watch the Super Bowl only for the commercials. Actually, American football developed from soccer football, but Americans just never bothered to change the name. And further, let’s be honest, calling soccer ‘football’ makes a whole lot more sense than calling our football ‘football’ seeing as how there is precious little footing transpiring on the gridiron. We should call it smashball or concussionball. Interestingly, the length of an American football is about a foot long. Maybe that’s why we saved the name. All that confusion is simply a case of misunderstood adjectival usage.
Ultimately, soccer is a world sport because of its simple rules and classic structure – kick the ball past someone else. Adults and children living in even the most impoverished areas can usually find a way to play. Some kind of round, bouncy object is all that’s needed, and the fun can last for hours. Children in the remotest villages of Africa where food is scarce and water is precious know the rules of world football. Visions of football fame and fortune sparkle in the eyes of countless school children as they stare upon a desert landscape. This is why soccer is so popular in Africa and South America; a propensity for athleticism can turn into gold. Every World Cup, the entire continent of Africa squeezes into roadside shops and crowds around dilapidated televisions in order to hold its breadth and dare to think that one of its teams can make history. For many, soccer is a solitary source of hope.
This is also the time of year when many missionary kids have graduated from high school and are making preparations for life after the field. One American missionary kid who is now is college was venting her frustration at how no one understood why she would be rooting for Ghana against the U.S. She is fluent in only English, attended a western style high school, grew up in relatively modern conditions, and has been surrounded by American media for many years. Yet, she still verbally identifies with African culture. She would probably feel equally uncomfortable at a college party in New York, New York as at a wedding ceremony in Dakar, Senegal. This is the rub for MK’s; they don’t totally identify with any culture. I know a missionary who had himself been an MK. He lived the vast majority of his life in Africa until moving to the U.S. for his freshman year at a university. A few weeks into the school year, he mistook his friend’s mace spray for breath spray, and promptly spritzed himself in the face. He woke up in the emergency room and tried to explain that, where he’s from, mace doesn’t exist. Pray for missionary kids. The church asks a lot from them.
There is a ministry here in Niger which provides food and daycare to children in poverty. Children in poverty are not hard to find. The current wisdom concerning children in dire situations is that the traditional orphanage is not the best solution and often causes more problems. Explaining these problems would require a lengthy description, but one main difficulty is that true orphans are actually rather rare. Many children are orphaned by poverty. That is, their families cannot afford to care for them. When an American sees a raggedly-clothed child who is one of 10 siblings begging on the street, it is assumed that the parents of this child are uncaring or unfit. The natural inclination is to sweep the child away and provide what only finances can provide. The truth, however, is that different cultures rear children differently, and money does not always solve problems. The parents of the child who is begging on the street probably love that child as deeply as any parent loves any child. So then, the idea is to assist the family in caring for the child so that the family is kept together. The childcare ministry I mentioned above is large with and extensive network but their basic idea is simple. They host children for a few hours each day, give them a bath and a meal, and send them home. I decided that I could perhaps do something similar but on a smaller scale and with a different age group. Kids between the ages of 10 and 16 fall within a strange societal zone in Niger. They are not truly children and are not given the attention of children. However, they are not truly adults, but are often expected to work and provide for their own income. Gifted students are often required to give up the classroom in favor of a paying (albeit minimally paying) job. So, every Monday through Friday about 6 to 10 young men eat lunch on my porch while I endeavor to speak with them in Zarma.
Thanks for everything you do. Your prayers and financial support keep me here. Blessings,
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