Sally and I have just subjected ourselves to a mind-blowing
experience. We left Niger after
six months and returned home on March 10th. Two weeks later we were at Disney
World. I don’t think anyone else
in the world has been exposed to this degree of mental, physical, social,
cultural, and theological change in such a short period. The differences between Niamey, Niger
and Disney World are like night and day, black and white, and hot and cold. Let me explain:
Start out with colors.
Niamey is monochromatic – orange.
There are other colors but there is one dominant color. You get used to it and your mind
adjusts but you still see a lot of orange. At Disney World there is no one dominate color, there are
greens, and whites, and silvers, and if you look around, you can see every
color that was found in Joseph’s colorful dream coat. This added stimulus is hard for two old people to absorb.
Next is temperature.
It was in the upper 80’s at Disney but a cool breeze and shade in many
places made it quite comfortable.
We had a days being outside without sweating. Did I happen to mention that in Niamey it gets very
hot? Like 30 degrees hotter this
time of year and then it cools down to the upper 80’s at night. Can you imagine how hot that is?
Trash. In
Niamey there is trash everywhere.
In Disney there is no trash, anywhere. No black bags either.
What do people put things in?
They have people with brooms sweeping things up. Neatness and cleanliness is a hallmark of
Disney but it is not a big deal in Niger.
Grass and pavement is easier to keep neat than sand, dust, and plastic
bags. The contrast is stark.
Dress. In
Niamey they wear clothes. The men
wear long pants and a shirt and the women wear beautiful and colorful
dresses. (Actually, their dresses
are the only color around.) At
Disney the sky’s the limit. We
went from Disney to Siesta Key for the next week and I have to say the people
at Disney were at least clothed, the people at Siesta Key were as close to
naked without being naked as you could get. The people in Niamey would be offended by our dress… and for
good reason.
Water. There
was water everywhere at Disney.
There were big fountains, lakes, streams, rides on water, and of course,
drinking fountains all over. In
Niamey we had to take our water bottles with us at all times, seems you never
know when you might want some water and you only get some if you brought it
with you. Dehydration is one of
the greatest health worries we would encounter.
Flowers, grass, greenery. Disney had flower arrangements everywhere you went. At Epcot they had hills with flower
displays and floating flower islands in the lake. The only flowers in Niamey are bougainvilleas, and only if
you water them every day, no grass, and only a few bushes, none of which were
trimmed in the shape of animals or people.
Food. There is
every food imaginable at Disney and some that isn’t but in Niamey there is so
little food and so few choices. At
Disney ou can eat every thing your heart desires and not worry about getting
sick in Niamey you don’t eat street food unless you are looking for the fast
acting Niamey Diet program.
Stuff. There
was so much “stuff” at Disney.
People had carts, cameras, everyone had a phone, food, toys they bought,
and who know what all. In Niger
people aren’t into stuff. They
don’t have places to put stuff so they don’t acquire things, and that’s easier
to do because there aren’t things to acquire. Then they don’t throw things out either. They repair, reuse, or find new uses
for things. Well, that’s not true
of everything. The black bags they
just throw on the side of the road.
People. If the
size of people at Disney were classed the same as shirt sizes most would be an
XL leaning toward an XXL if not XXXL.
In Niger they, most people, are small to medium. Obesity is not a problem in Niger;
almost everyone is thin. They look
good. The people at Disney were
not attractive; they were fat and acted fat.
Time. In Niger
we had time for everything, time for naps, time for prayer, and time for
people. At Disney we had to hurry
from one place to another. There
just wasn’t enough time to do everything.
How sad we've let ourselves get into this mess.
Entertainment and pleasure. Disney is the poster child for family entertainment and they
try to give you a pleasurable experience in every way they can think of, and
they do. Disney is good. There is very little entertainment in
Niger and no signs of people seeking pleasure of any kind. If you want to do something fun in
Niger you have to make your own fun, no one is going to make it for you. So the kids are playing soccer in the
streets, men meet and talk long the side of the road, and women are often performing
some chore while chatting with each other, enjoying each other. Disney’s focus on entertainment and
pleasurable experiences is not bad but it sure is different. Our observation is the people in Niger
were happier than those we saw at Disney.
God. The Bible
talks about it being harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God than it
is for him to go through the eye of a/the needle. Disney is the land of the rich man. All the things, stuff, trappings, and
activities we have in the United States keep us from God. We have to be busy working to acquire
and have all of the stuff, we have to keep busy to do all the fun things there
are to do, and we have to keep busy to keep up with the Jones’. The whole time we were at Disney we
were too busy to do our devotions or to read Jesus Calling. In Niamey we had plenty of time to do
devotions, to reflect, to pray. It
wasn’t that we made time; we had time.
Then five times a day the Iman reminded us, that it was time to stop and
pray. There was no Iman at
Disney. It was easy to focus on
God in Niger and if felt good to do so.
Here it is easy to focus on other things, and it doesn’t feel good.
It is going to be hard to keep God top of mind here in the
USA. We will have to work hard to
make it happen. Not just to make
time for God but to have time for God.
In Niger it was just part of the day.
A rich man does have trouble finding the Kingdom of God,
maybe the poor man had a leg up on us.
