Brush Arbor

Nigeria is the largest country in Africa, of the 42 nations of the Africa continent. The population of Nigeria is around 124 million. When I was there, as in many parts of the world, communism had taken over. The horror story involving communism and the Muslim religion (and I hope we will never face such in this country) is, as Marx has said, “the only value of the individual is his value to the state.” At the time I was there, Lagos now Abuja, was the capital and I stayed in the best hotel there. As was the case in my first trip to communist China in 1976, the hotel was a deteriorating, germ laden, epistle to communism. Americans have never gone into a bathroom and seen a bar of soap cut in half, or, just cold water and towels that looked more like rags from the car wash.

When I went to the dining room, I was the only customer, my guide had more sense than to go into that dining room. The food brought to me was absolutely rotten. The waiter said, “We do not have any fresh food, and have not had any fresh food for a long time.” I said, “Just open a can of something and heat it and bring it to me.”; he heated a can of soup, brought it and some stale bread. This is the fare for the best hotel in the capital of a large, communist country. It is going to be a real 'change' (you voters voted for change) when such is the standard here.

A young man from South Africa, of all places, came into the dining room and joined me for his meal. I told him what had happened and that he would be wise just to order a can of soup. After we left the dining room, we walked around this hotel, which probably, at one time, was a very nice place. There was a swimming pool, but no water, weeds had completely taken over the gardens. The South African was there in an effort to buy aluminum from a Nigerian factory. Since the communists had police watching every move we made, I was surprised that he was so ill-informed about conditions in this country, even to the extent that he had brought travelers checks. If I had not had enough cash to help him, I don't know how he would ever have survived in the country, because travelers checks, like credit cards, are unknown in those places.

Of great education, was my traveling with him, through the countryside, by taxi, to the aluminum plant which was totally isolated, fenced off with much security. I understood, once we toured the plant, because the African natives were slaves and treated as such by the plant management. These males were hauled by truck each day from the city and worked in these impossible surroundings for just pennies an hour, but they had no choice. Jobs such as these, were all that were available.

It was obvious, with the take over of the collectivist totalitarian communist ideology, individuals had lost all of their God-given purpose for existence. As has been shown by pictures in national publications in recent years, trash and debris, even dead bodies, have so piled up around the cities and so much of it has been thrown into the rivers, (the rivers have even been known to burn) that disease has killed a large part of the population, particularly the children. I can not imagine anything in humankind more evil than taking away the innocence of children, even in this country. 4000 children die in Africa each day from diarrhea. I can not imagine anything in humankind more evil than taking away the chastity of women, even in this country. In Nigeria, the only way most of the women could survive was working the streets as prostitutes. In every communist country I ever visited, perhaps because the system is entirely Godless, prostitution is encouraged, and every hotel bereft with women trying to do business.

Perhaps Gloria Steinem was in one of these countries, one of these hotels, when she made the statement, “Women need men like a fish needs a bicycle.” As I found in Russia, China and every other Marxist country, the family, the most important entity of human behavior, the foundation of any society, is the first to go; and children, the greatest creation of God, (those not aborted in these Godless places) are just neglected as 'urchins of the street'.

I was unable to get a flight from Nigeria to Accra, Ghana where I had been invited to speak at the University of Ghana. My guide negotiated with a taxi company and I was driven there. The driver was a Muslim with 7 wives; he wanted to drive me because he wanted to find another wife in Accra. He did not mind describing to me his life with that many wives. It was easy to understand why this extremely pleasant driver was attractive to so many women. I still do not understand how, on a taxi driver's salary, he could afford a house with so many bedrooms. Of course, I understand that in the Islamic religion you become a Muslim by just repeating, in front of a witness, “I believe in Allah” twice. I understand that in order to divorce a wife, you just say to her twice, “I divorce you.”

It astounds me that NARAL and NOW, Gloria Steinem and Barbara Walters and their ilk, and the other women liberals in the Democrat party, have not taken many planes loaded with liberated women to these countries to straighten out the black males who have prostituted, veiled, and enslaved women in this Muslim/Communist ideology. But, we only hear about the need for liberating women in the most free, democratic republic known to mankind. We only hear about liberating women in the most Christian nation (85% of the American population claim to believe in God) on Earth. Until Christ put on the tent of humanity, dwelled among us, showing us the values of human existence, 2000 years ago, women everywhere, were no more than slaves. But, we are all familiar with the anti-Christian attitude of American women.

In Accra, things were not better. There I was joined by an American communist professor from a mid-western university who shared a cab with me for the 12 mile ride to the University of Ghana, where we both had been engaged to speak. She, on the horrors of the American free enterprise system. (How any person with a few functioning brain cells could criticize the American system in a country so depleted of every convenience, wealth envied by every country in the world, was beyond my understanding) This extremely unattractive woman, straight, white, bluntly cut hair, no make-up, mouth like a sewer, attractive only in Hell, preceeded my speech. I talked about the American health care system, the joys of the American family, and, as always in my speaking, crowned the thrill of the American way of life with “sins ruin and Christ's redemption”; the only true message for the world, regardless of its politics or geography.

The most shocking feature of the entire trip was the absolute lack of any education going on at this 'so-called' university. The students, all black, male and female, every size, every temperament, were mostly just gossiping. I did not see any signs of any learning. The teachers, I would not dare give them the honor of calling one a professor, appeared to just be score-keepers and traffic directors. Rude, crude, total lack of manners; they were just students with evidently nothing else to do. I came away from Ghana and Nigeria with the feeling that they considered themselves just 'accidents' of life. The most interesting part of the entire trip was the insane taxi driver, who drove like a 'bat out of hell'. The crazy woman in the backseat with me seemed to enjoy the thrill, and I am sure she was a roller-coaster addict. I kept saying to the crazy driver, “SLOW DOWN!!” and he would just laugh. I will always remember the wrecked cars up and down the highway, because evidently, with their complete lack of appreciation for life, everyone drives like this and there is no one even to clean up the wreckage.

When I was a young college student, selling Bibles door to door every summer in the countryside, air conditioning was unknown. Church groups would build brush arbors, (this is a outdoor limited structure with limbs on the top to keep out rain and sunlight, but air can go through and it is an excellent sanctuary to escape the heat from the atmosphere so that one can more easily enjoy the 'hell-fire' of the preachers) no pews, just benches, usually sawdust on the ground. I attended a few of these meetings, and I understand, better than most, the wholesomeness of real faith. I have tried to explain situations in Africa, the fetish markets, the voodoo villages, how easily conquered, the difficulty of escape. But, in this land of opportunity, very few believe what I say and none care. One does not realize what they have lost until after it is gone.

That faith in God gives meaning and purpose to human life;
That the brotherhood of man transcends the sovereignty of nations;
That economic justice can best be won by free men through free enterprise;
That government should be of laws rather than of men;
That earth's great treasure lies in human personality;
And that service to humanity is the best work of life.
(Written by C. William Brownfield in 1946-Jaycee Creed)

Dr. Morris was a member, local and state officer of the Jaycees.