Changing Values in a Modern Age

As viewed on the African scene

‘I HAD seen the clothes my brothers had brought back and heard them speak of the wages to be had. They had described the street lights, the cinemas, the dance halls, the women and the clever town men. My father did not wish me to go, but without saying good-bye to my parents I boarded the bus for the big city.

‘I was amazed at what I saw and wished I had come earlier. There was nothing like this at home. Every house was bright with lights; there was an unbelievable and exciting bustle, thrill and glitter. Everyone radiated wealth, confidence, success. Life in town must be easy, the rewards great and quickly plucked. I was glad that I had left the dark quiet hut of my father, where I was only a boy, a messenger, a fetcher, a laborer. This was Life!’

So began the experience of one African who wished to explore the delights of another world​—life in a big city.

He felt that his move to the city and the prospect of more material possessions would be a springboard to happiness. Many share his feelings. Perhaps you do. What is happening in Africa has taken place, or is taking place, in many parts of the world.

Changes Touch Minds and Hearts

Minds and hearts accustomed to a very simple way of life have become acquainted with a manner of living that involves an endless array of fascinating possessions. The effect is portrayed in a selection from the African poem “Song of Lawino.” A newly educated man returning from town had just brought a clock home to his village wife who had never seen one before. She said: “To me the clock is a great source of pride. It is beautiful to see. And when visitors come, they are highly impressed!” Yes, this new “toy” seemed to add glitter and excitement, as well as prestige, to her life. Who of us has not seen and then desired some new gadget that could make our life more enjoyable?

However, all the benefits of modern technology come with “price tags”​—they cost money, sometimes plenty of it! The question each person must face is, How much am I willing to sacrifice to have that item? Enjoying certain benefits of this modern age may even require that you sacrifice personal values. This has been happening, not merely in Africa, but world wide.

To appreciate fully what precious values are being lost, let’s briefly examine the “traditional life-style” that has characterized much of African society for millenniums.

Traditional Values

There is evidence that Africans in ancient times were responsible for many outstanding technical feats. However, the real achievement of African culture was in another area.

Basil Davidson in the book African Kingdoms relates: “In the shadow of their pomp and glory rests the modest but impressive achievement of village-level Africa. In community attitudes that joined man to man in a brotherhood of equals, in moral rules that guided social behavior, in beliefs that exalted the spiritual aspects of life above the material, the African village achieved a kind of social harmony that often functioned without any need of centralized authority. This, in fact, was where Africa best displayed its real genius​—in its capacity for social organization. . . . more concerned with the amenities of personal relationships than with material progress.”

FAMILY LIFE: An international press release noted regarding traditional African societies: “The young, the old, the infirm are never without care, food or shelter as long as there is a relative or tribal brother with anything at all to share.” The family worked together and, basically, the villages were, and many still are, close-knit groups of several “extended” families. Children were reared in an atmosphere of family interest.

HOSPITALITY: It was the general practice in ancient Africa. Strangers were welcome without reservation. Two writers, a European and an American, lived for a time with some of the most primitive tribes in Africa. The European wrote: “The hospitality of the Nuba is wonderful to experience.” The other reported: ‘The Masai have a development of spirit, of human dignity, warmth and humor, a love of family and friends. I thought that the Masai had developed something very special.’

RULE OF LAW: The villages all had chiefs, village elders and a judicial system. Crimes were punished and criminals were ostracized from the community. There was security, and village life as a whole was relaxed and warm.

Yes, love for family, hospitality, rule of law​—are not these all valuable qualities, especially in a cold world where a close family and friends are becoming a rarity and lawlessness is increasing? Traditional African life considered these things precious. But what is happening to such values?

What Is Changing?

FAMILY LIFE: “Already the problems of affluent society are knocking hard on our doorsteps. Drug addiction, problems of adolescence [and] high increase in divorce rates.”​—African writer Ebomuche Oguuh-ibe.

“Parents neglect their roles. . . . The check and balance system of behaviour which characterised an African family is totally lacking nowadays.”​—African student Francis Uzoeshi.

HOSPITALITY: “Hospitality is disappearing [because] one does not trust unknown visitors: they may be thieves!” (Bantu Customs) Also, many cannot afford to show much hospitality and still maintain their standard of living or care for the needs of their immediate family.

RULE OF LAW: “Time To Wage War On Crime.” “This Brutal Land.” “The War Against Corruption.”​—African newspaper headlines.

“People increasingly tend to be more callous and selfish than ever before, even up to the point of not caring about what happens to the neighbour next door, quite contrary to the traditional African belief in the brotherhood of man.”​—African writer Oguuh-ibe.

What Is Causing the Changes?

A group of young mothers in southern Africa were asked: “What causes more trouble, beer or money?” Unanimously they answered: “Money.” Of course, it is not the money itself, but what one does to get it and how it is used.

For instance, to earn more money, some men move far away into town, leaving the wife to cultivate the family plot and rear the children. Long hours of loneliness lead to temptations of excessive drinking and immorality. Some men even take on a ‘town wife,’ a woman who will live with a man without marriage. With these new pressures he may be unable to send any of his salary home, putting further strains on the family’s already disrupted life. He may go home only once or twice a year!

Yet, even where the husband and wife live together in town, the wife often works to supplement the husband’s earnings. In many cases young children are left at home to be cared for by a house servant, who herself may be a young girl. Such lack of proper training has contributed to a dramatic increase in juvenile crime and immorality in many cities of Africa. This is especially serious to Africa because nearly one half of the population is under 16 years of age!

The destructive effect of the quest for wealth is vividly illustrated with some of the Nuba tribesmen. Author Leni Riefenstahl, who lived with the Nuba, reported that in years past he could leave his photographic equipment in unlocked crates for months at a time. But recently he had to stop. Why? Thievery. He writes: “Because of a very poor harvest, some of the Nuba tribes had to go to the towns to earn some money to buy cattle or a few goats. In the towns they saw how everything could be bought with money and this had a destructive effect on them.”

Before becoming acquainted with modernization, they were basically self-sufficient. Riefenstahl adds: “They knew nothing else and were happy and content with this life. The possession of money used to be foreign to them. But soon the inevitable march of civilization will reach the Mesakin Nuba and change them too.”

In pursuit of the things that this modern age can bring, many have also become ensnared by something else.

Enslaving Credit Buying

“This easy credit is a terrible snare,” wrote one African couple. “It makes buying things seem so easy and cheap, whereas in reality it isn’t. The fact that one can walk into a shop and buy a dress without paying for it right away is a real lure, and as for payment​—well, they can think about that later. When ‘later’ comes and they get the bill, they realize that they can’t pay, and then the ‘fun’ starts. They become real slaves to these credit stores because the desire for new things is so great. I have been in homes that have new hi-fi sets, a new car, beautiful furniture and yet they don’t have enough money for food because they’re paying it all off. Husband and wife are both working and the kids are running wild.”

In this respect Africans do not stand alone. Debt created by credit buying is an enormous problem in other countries as well. For instance, one out of every 20 Americans is in serious credit debt, since over 60 percent of their total income is committed to credit payments.

The effects on one, mentally and emotionally, are truly harsh. One person deep in debt from credit buying wrote: “I lost my job, and my unemployment compensation isn’t enough to make the minimum payments, let alone pay rent and buy food. I have resorted to selling blood plasma and doing odd jobs. Ducking creditors is driving me crazy. I’m a nervous wreck.”

Not All Change

Of course, not all Africans have lost good judgment and proper values in their desire to enjoy the benefits from modern technology. There are many honest and upright persons throughout Africa.

A foreign correspondent who spent a short time in Africa noted some dishonest ones, yet candidly reported: “But I should tell as well of . . . a young man who refused money after guiding me for hours around an irrigation project. Of the woman laundry worker who returned to me the eighty naira that I left in a shirt pocket. And I should tell of the kindnesses shown to me by the man I had called stupid.”​—National Geographic, March 1979.

Not all who move to the big city change their values. Necessity may have required the move, but some have retained their good principles and kept their families united. They have taken a realistic look at a life-style centered around a quest for money and the comforts it can buy. They know that other things are worth more.

The Good Life?

Do you remember the young man mentioned at the beginning of this article who felt that his new way of life would bring genuine happiness? His story continues:

‘I have been six months now in the big city. I had moved from the first job, where the hours were long and the work unending, to another job and then a third. The conditions were little different and the pay actually a little less. I had settled into the rhythm of town life​—dead low before payday, then a surge at the end of each month. Eventually all I had went into pawn, and I lived a life as quiet as I once did at home.

‘Each evening when work was over I went out into the street and stood and watched. There were always the same sights, the same procession of cars, the same well-dressed women in taxis, the same flush-looking boys. Where did they get it? There was a trick somewhere. I was worked as I was never worked before, but the money​—which came in handfuls that I would not have dreamed of—​went out again as fast. I began to see that people like me never had a chance.’

Though not all who go to the ‘big city’ end up feeling this way, many see the utter futility of seeking happiness merely through material things. They yearn for the simple life that existed before. Not that they wish to live again in poverty, as some did, nor to revive everything in the traditional culture. But they sorely miss the values of a close family, hospitality and rule of law, which are being eroded in this modern age.

Perhaps you too are concerned about the way your life has been affected by materialism. You may wish to make a change. But how? A practical answer that is already assisting thousands throughout Africa is discussed in the following article.